T-shirt screenprinter sets up Portland shop

Jon Bennett got his start in business by screen-printing T-shirts in his basement while he was a student at Ball State University.

Now, the Dunkirk native and 1987 Jay County High School graduate has opened a new retail storefront in Portland for his custom T-shirt business.

Cool Cayenne, located at 601 N. Meridian St., is a screen-printing shop that sells its own line of Jay County- themed products and creates custom T-shirt and sweatshirt orders. The business is owned by Bennett, who started screen-printing custom T-shirts in 1989 to help him pay his way through college at Ball State.

He went on to a career as a corporate marketing director, but made a change in order to have more flexibility and not need to travel as much. He started and then sold Outfitter, another Muncie custom apparel company, before creating Cool Cayenne.

Founded in 2004, up until now Cool Cayenne has focused on just making custom orders at its Muncie production facility, where it did contract printing for businesses and organizations, including the Dallas Cowboys and IHSAA. But the new expansion into retail starts with the shop here in Portland.

“This is our first attempt at retail,” Bennett said. “We’re really excited about getting involved in the community.”

The store has rolled out it’s first line of the clothing, the Heritage Collection, with 10 percent of earnings benefitting Jay County Historical Society. The collection includes T-shirts that recreate the logos and colors of the eight high schools in Jay County, before two waves of consolidation that created Jay County High School in 1975. The store carries T-shirts, hats and sweatshirts for the former Gray, Madison, Pennville, Bryant, Redkey, Dunkirk, Poling and Portland high schools.

The business has 12 employees, including three artists on staff that help create new T-shirt designs.

“Retail allows us to be a lot more creative,” Bennett said.

“We want people to see creativity right when they walk in.”

In addition to the Heritage Collection, the store also sells a variety of Jay County High School gear.

“A big part of why we’re here is the support that the Jay County community gives to its businesses,” said Bennett. “There aren’t a lot of communities like this, so it’s exciting to be a part of it.”

For Bennett, owning the business helps fund another passion. He serves on the board of a not-for-profit called Hope 2 Liberia. The organization helps install water systems and build new schools in the west African nation of Liberia, recently hit by the Ebola epidemic. Bennett has been to Libera more than a dozen times, and plans to go back again this February.

“It’s pretty humbling and very rewarding,” he said. “That’s a driving force for us, being able to give back to the community and to others.”