A Chicago Cubs pitcher inspired Joe Johnson’s first Obvious Shirt in 2015 —“Jake Arrieta is Good at Baseball”—and a chance meeting at a Cubs Convention in 2017 led to a deal with Clark Street Sports that put the shirts in 26 stores across Chicago. Today, Johnson ’11 cranks out 1,500 shirts per month. “The brand is growing way faster than I ever imagined,” Johnson says. “The cool thing is that it’s all been grass roots. It’s been completely organic.”