At Elder High School t-shirts are made for just about everything. Whether it is Elder Football, Disc, or the Glee Club a t-shirt is a necessity. The real mystery is where these shirts come from. While some clubs design a shirt and order online, one imprint manufacturer is an Elder staple that stands above the rest. With a history in shirt making, and deep Elder ties, Elder alum Mike Chastang ’00 gives back to Elder in a special way.

Mike joined the family business and started his career in the t-shirt business in 2003. Mike said, “I worked for Hal Manufacturing which was owned by my grandpa from 2003-2011. I then left there to start my own company called Chastang Imprints. We specialize in screen printing, embroidery, and promotional.” Mike and Elder have worked together making a variety of shirts such as the freshman orientation shirts we all get on our first day. Mike said, “Elder has been a customer of mine since 2003, however before me there was my dad, Scott Chastang, he has printed and embroidered shirts for Elder since the early 1980’s or so.”

Mike also explained how his dad got the job with Elder, “Mr. Dabbelt actually got my dad in the door at Elder. Mr. D coached my dad in wrestling in the late 1970’s, so once my dad started in the business, one of his first calls was to Mr. D and in true Elder fashion Mr. D gave a former Elder student a chance and has been loyal to him ever since.”
In 2012, Mike spun off his own company called Chastang Imprints and has been providing the same great service. When asked about his process of shirt making he was quick to explain, “The process is simple, a customer will email or call with an idea, my artist will then take the idea and create artwork for that person. The artwork is emailed over to the customer for an approval to make sure logo looks correct. Once the customer approves the logo, we will then either embroider or screen print the item. Once completed I usually bring the goods to the customer so they don’t have to take time out of their day to come to our shop.” Simplifying the process, pleasing the customer and ensuring 100% satisfaction is why Mike and Elder make such a great pair.

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Mike has made many shirts over the years, but when asked about his favorite he just can’t decide on one. “Favorite shirt, that is a tough one, we have done so many through the years, before I was printing shirts my dad did the Elder 1993 State Champions basketball shirts, Elder 1999 State Champion baseball shirts, then I helped with the 2002 and 2003 state football shirts, also two non-Elder ones that stand out were were for Elder alumni, the Kelsey Chevrolet Shirts that Walt Kelsey, Pat Kelsey, and Paul Cluxton came up with a few weeks ago. It was the front of a Camaro on a black tshirt with a 5 color print. The other one was a family vacation Disney shirt from last summer. On the back of the shirt we did some detailed classic Disney characters which turned out really cool looking.”
Like many families, the Chastang family and Elder High School have a bond that runs deep. Regardless of the need it’s these types of relationships that show just how special it is to be a member of the Elder family.