I, Jim, Mistlebloe’s Head of Distribution, first had the idea for Mistlebloe way back in the very early eighties when I was a freshman in high school.  It was coming up on Christmas and me and my friends, being of that awkward age, were trying to figure out ways to get a girl’s attention.  Then it hit me!  My original concept was to make a mistletoe belt buckle.  I’ve always enjoyed making my friends laugh, so I had to share the idea.  All my friends thought it was the funniest thing they had ever heard.  And I told ALL my friends, and they told their friends and so on...  About 5 years along when I was starting college, I was struck with the perfect product name, MISTLEBLOE!  This had everyone cracking up even more!  Every year since, as the holidays got near, I would remember this idea with a chuckle and tell ALL my friends again, and the ones I didn’t tell would ask me “remember that mistletoe belt buckle idea, that’s still hilarious, when are you going to make them?  I want one!”  Well it’s been almost 30 years since the original thought, and over those years I’ve told the idea to probably thousands of people, some of whom have given me the “what are you, still 13 years old?” look, but most have said YOU SHOULD DO IT!

So here I find myself in 2009, having left a good gig in corporate America a few years back to engage my entrepreneurial spirit in business ventures of my own.  Having sold my last business venture, now working a part time (though fun) job to pay the bills, and having no luck returning to the corporate world in this tough economy so many of us are caught up in, I figured now is the time!  Without the time or capital to go into full production on belt buckles, a good friend in the apparel industry suggested I start out with T-Shirts.  A few drinks with a couple of very talented graphic artist friends of mine and the designs came to life.  Once I saw them, I knew I was onto something!  A call to another friend and a website is born.  Another friend, and trademarks and copyrights are pending.  Six weeks after deciding to do it, I find myself in a trade show booth at the International Lingerie Show in Las Vegas showing my designs to 2,000 retailers!  If there was still any doubt in my mind if this idea would work, on top of the retail orders I got, the shirt was a must have for most of the lingerie models working the show!  One night going back to my hotel from the show, forgetting a change of shirts, I had 2 people offering to buy the shirt off my back, in September!?!  Thankfully in Las Vegas you don’t get many second looks walking through a hotel lobby with no shirt!!!

I know most of the friends I have shared this idea with over the years have passed it along to their friends, and so on and so on from there… and now I find with a simple google search that an online dictionary has a definition for, as they spell it, mistleblow!  I would love to know the 7 degrees of separation on that!  So there you have it!  The birth of a new business!  Good ole American ingenuity and entrepreneurial spirit, some friendly encouragement, a house full of boxes and a huge smile on my face because I can share this idea with you, and hopefully make you and a few of your friends laugh along the way!  I get out of bed each morning with a chuckle and look forward to a lot of hard work to spread the joy of Mistlebloe to everyone that wants to make their friends laugh and get the gift they really want!

Thanks for coming to the Mistlebloe Store and please check back often!  I’m already coming up with new designs for Valentine’s Day and other holidays, as well as expanding the concept beyond Shirts for next year!  No reason we shouldn’t spread laughter and joy, and get the gift we really want all year long! ;)

Jim
Head of Distribution (hey, you own the business, you pick your title)
Mistlebloe