By Pete Smith
Any one who has ever spent time in Broad Ripple knows that The Teeki Hut is an institution, creating custom T-shirts while people wait.
And Carmel owners Denise and Greg Hayes said they were extremely close to opening a second location in Carmel. They had lease documents in hand and workers measuring spaces for a future build-out.
But then an opportunity they couldn’t pass up landed in front of them.
Now the Hayes couple spend most of their days in a quiet Carmel factory with views of the Palladium – creating custom T-shirts and hoodies and hawking their wares around the world instead of around the village.
Their new business is called Custom Glam Girl and its specialty is taking high-quality American Apparel clothing, bedazzling it with rhinestones based on the bridal and bachelorette themed templates on its website and then shipping it anywhere in the world.
Denise Hayes said that the company has even made clothes for such high-profile customers as Jay-Z, Heidi Klum and Britney Spears.
They feel that the marriage of the two companies will lead to a rapid growth cycle and they said they hope to double in size in the next year.
And while the Teeki Hut can offer clothes as outrageous as the buyer’s imagination, Custom Glam Girl’s products are more focused.
“Our focus is higher quality,” Greg Hayes said. “It’s more blinged out. It’s more expensive.”
He said he thinks the next expansion will occur as the company begins to target cheerleading teams, dance groups and beauty salons. The plan is to start locally.
And despite the company’s focus on brides, the Hayes’ elves are not frantically designing shirts, cutting vinyl guides and stamping rhinestones in the summer marriage season. Surprisingly, they said fall and winter are expected to be their busiest time.
Denis Hayes said, “Football season will be huge for us.”
For more information visit www.customglamgirl.com.
