From Tosa to K-Town to the 414, Adam and Lisa Gilson are spreading some serious Wisco pride, one T-shirt at a time. With their apparel company Giltee, they’re celebrating Wauwatosa, Kenosha, Milwaukee and other communities that make the state so special.
Giltee — a mashup of “Gilson” and “tee” — started out as a creative side project for Adam, who works in software product design. But it quickly evolved into a family business for the couple and their sons, five-year-old Bennett and two-year-old Luca.
And the line has expanded from tees to hoodies, sweatshirts, onesies, hats and more to outfit Wisconsin-loving men, women and kids, with items sold at shops in Wauwatosa, where the Gilsons live, as well as Milwaukee, Bay View, Kenosha, Eau Claire, Door County and beyond.
Lisa shares the inspiration behind the label.
What brought you to Wauwatosa?
We moved to Wauwatosa because we knew that it offered the strong community feel we were looking for for our family, but also embodied elements of a bigger city. Tosa is a community that offers unique, tight-knit neighborhoods, amazing schools, beautiful green spaces and parks, fabulous restaurants and awesome shops, many of which are locally owned. Wauwatosa is a walkable community with a revitalized downtown and residents that are proud to live here. There are a plethora of community events that are always hoppin’ and hotspots that provide fun for the kiddos as well as the adults — which is why we call Tosa our playground.
How did you get into screen printing?
From the beginning, Giltee has been a family project. When we were expecting our second child, Adam began teaching himself how to screen print in the basement of our home. At first, it was just a fun little side project that let him flex his creativity. He began printing on super soft, premium quality tees that were not only comfortable, but also looked good. We started wearing them (all the time). Then our friends and family wanted to wear Adam’s tees and eventually random people began asking us where they could get one — and so it began. Once we made the decision for me to stay home with the kids, the business began to flourish even more. I went from a stay-at-home mom to a work-at-home mom quite quickly. We now offer our apparel online, at local markets and at nearly twenty stores across Wisconsin.
Why did you decide to make shirts and apparel highlighting Wisconsin towns?
We believe that strong communities are built by people taking pride in their city, loving where they come from and being active within in their community. Wisconsin is unique in that there are so many fantastic communities that thrive on Midwestern roots like helping out a neighbor, strong families, kindness, compassion — and fun! We hope that our apparel spreads that pride for one’s roots or hometown as well as highlights all there is to enjoy in our great state and the cities within it.
How do you come up with your designs? What inspires you?
Adam constantly adds to his list of ideas when he hears or sees anything that inspires him creatively. Oftentimes, our friends and family say things in passing about life (particularly in Wisconsin) that resonate with us and we say, “we need to put that on a shirt.” We look for what makes a city or town unique or what people identify with in their community and Adam goes to work to create his notable simple yet unique and creative designs. Plus, we are lucky to have a close network of talented designers (who also happen to be our buds) who join in and help us with our creative process and bring our vision to life.
What have been some favorite items so far?
It all started with the design we call “The Standard,” which is still a best-seller and we love it because it can be customized for absolutely any community. We love our women’s pullovers, our oh-so-soft hoodies, our latest customer favorite — the vintage muscle tank — and so many of our new pieces coming out. And we are having so much fun moving beyond a T-shirt company and growing into an apparel company.
What’s it like to run a family business?
We don’t necessarily promote the brand — we live it. We love working local markets and getting to know the customers. We are active in our community and in the schools and we partner with local businesses and organizations.
We couldn’t do what we do without the support of our friends, family and the community. When hanging with our group of friends or family or at a local event, we are always humbled by the number of people we see wearing Giltee. Whenever we have an event, we can always count on our friends and family to be there. They are our biggest fans and we are so very thankful for them.