ST. PETERSBURG, FLA.- — A St. Pete artist is designing Super Bowl apparel featuring the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Matt Shapiro said he does not design t-shirts until his team wins. He creates apparel specific to Tampa Bay. He started making celebratory gear once the Bucs made it to the Super Bowl.
"None of the designs are created until the whistle is blown. I don't. I am a very superstitious fan and I have the same routine before every game and I don't want to create a design assuming we're going to win," said Shapiro.
Shapiro has been making t-shirts for about a year.
He also made apparel when the Tampa Bay Lightning won the Stanley Cup in 2020. "It's artwork you can wear. These are designs that I created," he said.
He said he only makes what he sells. He tries to turn orders around within 24 hours. He creates the t-shirts after carefully watching the game.
"Prior to the game, I'll start coming up and brainstorming ideas and then I watch the game and I see if there's a unique play or if there's a unique symbol or unique moment that happens. I take my brainstorming ideas and combine it with what happened during the game," said Shapiro.
Shapiro said he adds a local perspective to the clothing he creates.
"I don't want to steal the Bucs logo. I don't want to steal the NFL logos because there are hundreds of shirts out there with those logos already on them. I want my twist, my take and kind of a local perspective on the shirts."
Shapiro sells the clothing online at his website: https://1771designs.com.
