In 1989, brothers Bert and John Jacobs designed their first tee shirt. One fateful September day, they printed up 48 shirts for a local street fair in Cambridge, Massachusetts. They laid the shirts out on their rickety card table. By noontime, all 48 of those tees were gone. A star was born.

Soon shirts were introduced to local retailers, and their simple message of optimism was embraced like nothing the brothers had ever seen. As demand for product soared, Jake's team grew, and the Little Brand That Could began to spread across America. Today, the New England based brand stays close to its roots, with an emphasis on simplicity, humor and humility.