Started by accident and simply as a hobby, worn [BUT NOT] forgotten is the brainchild of Las Vegas artist/photographer, Steve Makransky, and his wife Jodi. The art is all his. The name is all hers. That’s what happens when two advertising backgrounds collide – Steve, a former Madison Avenue art director and Jodi, a former Disney product manager.
So how did a Philly boy and a SoCal girl meet? Watching an Eagles game, of course. Steve grew up with Bobby Clarke, Mike Schmidt and Dr. J as his heroes. All Jodi knew was that Dodger Stadium had great hot dogs. Needless to say, Jodi’s learned a lot. They each followed their families to Las Vegas, met in 2003 and married in 2005.
One night in 2007, Steve was folding the laundry of all things and there it was: his old, faded, Philly team t-shirts stacked on top of each other about to be placed on the closet shelf. He took out his camera and snapped a close-up picture of them. worn [BUT NOT] forgotten began.
Steve started collecting all kinds of vintage team t-shirts and photographed them as pieces of art creating a bit of an inventory. He’d hang some of them in his cubicle at work. Everyone bought them.
In 2011, worn [BUT NOT] forgotten exhibited in its first art event and hit a homerun. These pieces of old-school sports art resonated with die-hard fans. A hobby became a passion and a passion became a business. worn [BUT NOT] forgotten found its niche.
By 2012, worn [BUT NOT] forgotten was regularly exhibiting in local Las Vegas events as well as art shows, craft fairs, vintage markets and festivals throughout Nevada, California, Arizona and Utah.
Having now collected a seemingly endless number of vintage team t-shirts and photographed hundreds of old-school images, worn [BUT NOT] forgotten has sold nearly 50,000 pieces of sports art. Who’d have thought? While some photographers shoot landscapes and others shoot portraits, Steve shoots t-shirts creating something all to its own. As Steve likes to say, each piece of art is his “little stamp on the world.”
If Steve & Jodi have learned anything, it’s that simple, different and cool are three traits of a good idea. And that there’s certainly no shortage of old-school, die-hard sports fans out there.
Pictured here are their two employees on a much-needed break: Jackson, Head of Operations & Security and Remy, Inventory & Studio Manager. That’s the story. Thanks for stopping by.