Photos by Lauren Kuykendall
Chris Porter was traveling cross country to L.A. to see a soccer game. Having been on the soccer team in college, he knew a thing or two about traveling. And having used his jacket as a pillow, he knew that wasn’t going to do this time around. So he turned one of his T-shirts into a pillow.
And as simple as that, a business was born. Porter taught himself to sew and began making the pillows for Christmas gifts. In 2015, he founded Pillow Tees. He’s currently recruiting new sewers for the business.
How it works: a customer places his order online, and then receives an envelope in which to send the shirt. It then takes about two weeks for the order to be completed.
Porter also makes quilts and, in the new year, he’s extending his pillow line — to bigger versions and a lumbar variety. The options now are a 14x14 pillow and a mini pillow. Quilts come in small, medium, and large.
He’s also making stickers, he says, for “funsies.”
Customers can also request whether they want the whole T-shirt used or made with a background.
Porter says he recently included directions for pants on his website. (Denim is only used for quilts; it’s too hard to work with for pillows.) He’s gotten a few requests for pillows using a shirt for the front and pants for the back. A whole outfit, in other words. He says this is usually for people missing a loved one or to represent someone who has passed away.
Porter is currently setting up a workspace underneath B. collective downtown. He says his new employees can work from home, though. They get paid per pillow. Interested in the gig? Email Porter at chris@mypillowtee.com.
He says his friends have been supportive of this endeavor. “A young black guy with a sewing machine? Everyone loves the idea,” he says.
