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A T-shirt that reads, "Kentucky: got teeth?" or "Future Trophy Wife," could be a bit off-putting to some. But Lorbach's shirts are selling well enough to land his company a new partner: comedy media producer National Lampoon Inc., which last week announced its acquisition of JerkassClothing.com.
National Lampoon, known for its films, Internet sites and other media, now owns 51 percent of JerkAss LLC, with Lorbach owning the rest. He expects Los Angeles-based National Lampoon, with annual revenue of over $7 million, to expand the JerkAss brand through increased promotions, including placing some T-shirts in movies.
"They have a much bigger network," said Lorbach, who's creating a new line of National Lampoon-themed merchandise.
The acquisition gives National Lampoon "another way online to potentially generate substantial revenue while connecting with our audience," said Chief Executive Officer Daniel Laikin, in a statement. Acquisition terms were not disclosed.
Lorbach was a University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee student when he began designing shirts. Among his first big sellers was a shirt that pictured his own version of the former Marquette University Warriors logo. He graduated from UWM in 1996 and has a day job, working as a graphic designer at a financial services company.
But Lorbach's passion is designing T-shirts, which he first sold locally through Internet sites such as Craigslist and eBay. In 2005, he created JerkassClothing.com, where the dozens of designs range from the politically aware ("Barack To The Future") to flippant ("Drink Like A Champion Today") to naughty (sorry, those you'll have to find on your own).
The Web site is run from Lorbach's house, and he is the company's only employee. JerkAss contracts with another company to produce the shirts and ship them to customers.
Lorbach also is a partner in GroupCard, a small start-up with offices in Milwaukee and Menlo Park, Calif. That business operates GroupCard.com, an e-greetings Web site.
By the way, the JerkAss name comes from Lorbach's son. When he was a toddler, he called Lorbach a "jerkass," apparently after hearing Lorbach's wife call Dad a "jackass."
And, unlike most utterances from 2-year-olds, it's now emblazoned on a shirt.
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