If it’s not copyrighted, Mount Pleasant senior Alexandre Dube can put
it on a T-shirt.

Dube is the founder and only employee of Twisted Vision, a T-shirt
design business he has operated since 2000.

“We take a customer’s image and we digitize the picture and we print
out the image onto a film and we use the film to burn a screen — a
nylon mesh — and we put the picture on the T-shirt,” Dube said.

Dube originally planned to run a T-shirt business with his
ex-girlfriend’s father and then with his best friend. When both
ventures fell through, he decided to go into business himself.

“I was interested in opening a T-shirt shop because I had researched
it,” he said. “So I went on e-Bay and bought my equipment — which cost
a lot of money.”

Dube’s central office is located on South Lincoln in Mount Pleasant.
The T-shirts are designed in Rosebush.

Dube credits Charles Fitzpatrick, entrepreneurial professor and
director of the LaBelle Entrepreneurial Center, with motivating him to
start Twisted Vision.

“I was studying under Chuck Fitzpatrick and he got me really
interested in running my business,” Dube said. “I said, ‘Well, there’s
nothing keeping me from waiting until graduation.’”

Fitzpatrick said Dube would be a successful businessman.

“He has the knowledge, the motivation and the energy to run a
business,” Fitzpatrick said.

Twisted Design has designed T-shirts for CMU’s Organization for
Black Unity, as well as auto shows, family reunions and
retirement parties in the five years Dube’s been in business.

Running the business can be an emotional experience, he said.

“The best way to describe it is like a roller coaster,” Dube
said. “You’re really excited when someone calls you, but when that
deadline approaches, you sometimes have to fight it to get it done for
the customer.”

Dube typically hand-delivers the shirts to customers within a week
after an order is placed.

“There’s real pride when you hand it in on time and everything
worked out,” he said.

He has sometimes had to work long hours to get the shirts done in
time.

“I once pulled a 26-hour shift to get a T-shirt done for a
customer,” Dube said. “I wasn’t going home.”

Those interested in having a T-shirt designed can call (989) 621 -
8510 to discuss the project’s cost.

Customers will then meet with Dube in person for a consultation.

Dube said his business’ title reflects his customer base.

“Everybody has a twisted vision and ideas for what they want and we
just take that and put it on a shirt,” Dube said.

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