commercialappeal.com:
While there’s plenty of school-spirited baby gear for little ones to wear on game day, one University of Memphis graduate found there was little in the way of team-inspired bedding and accessories for her Tiger tot’s nursery.
“I found generic sports bedding,” says Cordova resident LeeAnn Christopherson, mom to 7-year-old Rachel and 2-year-old Ben. She found plenty of fabric by the yard, and fleece to make bedding. “But nothing was of the quality I hoped for.”
And then, there were the colors. As Christopherson, 38, kindly phrases it, “oftentimes, college colors can be kind of harsh.”
So what’s a freelance graphic designer — married to a man whom she says bleeds Tiger blue — to do?
Design a line of baby bedding and nursery accessories that is soft and sweet but shows allegiance to one’s alma mater.
Christopherson and her husband, Eric, 38, creative director at Combustion, a local advertising and design firm, researched college licensing requirements and started talking to officials at the U of M and the University of Tennessee.
She presented full samples to the colleges and the licensing folks. U of M officials were very open to the idea of allowing her to swap the college’s traditional deep blue and gray colors for a softer blue with coordinating patterned fabrics, including gingham, stripes and denim.
UT officials held fast to their Volunteer orange, but allowed Christopherson to pair the iconic orange ‘T’ with complementary patterns suitable for a nursery. She received approval from both universities this summer.
Logo from Dream Team Nursery.