It’s (716) teee-shiiirrrtt tiiiiiimmmmeee!

Hello everyone! Its t-shirt time!

Welcome to “FORZAmilo,” a blog covering the latest and most exciting design-related activities of me, Milo Kowalski. Who cares, right? Well, hopefully you.

Anyone who knows me at all is well aware that I am a very loud and proud native of Buffalo, NY, as are the majority of my hometown friends. After high school I came to New York City (Brooklyn) for college but like the other countless 20-somethings who have migrated elsewhere for educational or career reasons I still proclaim to the world that the 716 area code is home.

As a graphic designer I thought for a long while that it would be a fun project to create an emblem of sorts for Western New York. Sure, people identify with the Bills’ streaking buffalo logo, the Sabres’ magnificent crest (good riddance, Buffaslug), and just about anything with else with a bison on it, but I wanted something that would be both bold and regionally broad.

Eventually my idea made it from my head to a piece of paper, from that piece of paper to a computer screen, and finally, when I had saved some cash on the side, from the screen to cotton.

And so I present to all you Buffalove-ers the “716” t-shirt, an original design by yours truly.

Starting this week, these shirts will be on sale at 2 exclusive locations, one in Buffalo and one here in New York City. In Buffalo, 716 tees will be available for purchase at the “Rolling Joe Cafe,” a mobile coffee and pastry shop owned and operated by Rich Spears. Since it began earlier this year, the cafe has received some great press including this review at buffalorising.com. Rich will be stationed many nights this summer by Hoyt Lake in Delaware Park for “Shakespeare in the Park.” (And might I add, it is a fantastic way to spend a warm night in North Buffalo.)

For Western New York expatriates living downstate, the t-shirts can be found at Kelly’s Sports Bar on Avenue A between Houston St. and E. 2nd St. on the Lower East Side. I first discovered Kelly’s last October when a friend from home came to visit New York for the weekend. We were looking for a Buffalo-backers bar to watch the Sabres’ season opener and figured we would give it a try—the drinks were cheap (Labatts!), the bartenders were great, and the game-night atmosphere made me feel I was going to walk out onto Allen St. afterward. I was on hand at Kelly’s the night Buffalo clinched their playoff berth against Philadelphia (this game, in case you forgot). I ran into five people I knew from home that night (4 of which went to the same elementary school as me) and I couldn’t get enough of it. Kelly’s is also one of the only sports bars I know of in New York City that has a bubble hockey table, which earns them big bonus points in my book.

And so begins the FORZAmilo blog. Be sure to check in soon to see new updates as they come and make sure you’re all well-dressed for the upcoming NHL and NFL (maybe?) seasons this fall.