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Advertise With UsOSU fans channel best of Tress through a vest
Written by Brandi Barhite | Special Sections Editor | bbarhite@toledofreepress.com
John Amato
A Notre Dame grad who came up with the Jim Tressel OSU Sweater Vest T-shirt has some explaining to do.
John Amato of Holland claims to be both an OSU and Notre Dame fan, but even he knows that is hard to believe.
“I am not a die-hard sports fan like some people are because I am around it so much. It tempers your enthusiasm,” the 26-year-old said.
The idea for the vest came up during the 2006 football season, when the Buckeyes went to the BCS National Championship game.
Amato announced that someone should make one of those tuxedo T-shirts that look like a sweater vest, and his dad said, “You do it.” The original idea was a silk-screen T-shirt, but evolved into a red, V-neck cutoff with the sleeves sewn into it. Tressel is famous for wearing a sweater vest and tie.
“It is a fall/winter item, and sales are big,” said Amato, who owns Jup Mode.com, the site where the shirts are sold. “They were big the first few weeks of the season and before the season started and then during the big games.”
Sales are reflective of the season. They flat-lined when Southern California beat OSU this season, according to Amato. Now that OSU is doing better, sales are picking up again.
Amato launched JupMode.com in 2007 with the OSU Sweater Vest T-shirt as its sole product. He has built upon the OSU Sweater Vest T-Shirt and now offers adult, youth and toddler sizes, in addition to onesies at select stores like Kroger and The Andersons. All of his products, which are manufactured in India, are officially licensed by The Ohio State University. The OSU Sweater Vest T-shirt is $20; youth shirts are $19; toddler sizes are $18, and the onesies are $16.
Amato grew up in Perrysburg and graduated from Central Catholic in 2001. He attended Notre Dame and received his bachelor’s in marketing. He sells his shirts at a 7-Eleven store during OSU home games and even attends some away games. He has sold more than 10,000 T-shirts in the past two years. He even sent a shirt to Tressel, who acknowledged he had received it.
“It would be amazing to get him to put one on,” Amato said.
