W.G. natives launch new shirt company

Andy Crabtree and Will Blaine display two of the T-shirt designs available through their new business venture, AB Newton & Company.

— AB Newton & Company offers four T-shirt designs that promote Winter Garden.

When Arthur Bullard Newton settled in Winter Garden and helped build the downtown corridor, chances are he never thought his name would grace a new business more than 100 years after the fact.

Andy Crabtree and Will Blaine, both natives of Winter Garden, have started AB Newton & Company and are selling T-shirts that promote their hometown. The average cost is $22.

Men’s and women’s sizes are available in various colors with four different designs. The shirts can be purchased at Tri & Run of West Orange on Plant Street in Winter Garden starting this weekend, during Shop Small Saturday, and will be available at the Winter Garden Heritage Foundation’s new History and Visitor Center when it opens.

The two started the company one day over lunch. Blaine and Crabtree were discussing creating a brand that celebrated everything they loved about Winter Garden. Crabtree had visited several general stores throughout the South and noticed that many of them sold T-shirts representing their towns.

“Winter Garden is such a great community, and so many people are really proud of the changes that are taking place throughout the downtown district,” he said. “So, I thought it would be great to create merchandise to sell and allow locals and visitors to purchase something that they could take with them; really build a brand for Winter Garden.”

“It’s hard to imagine a project like this that didn’t involve Andy,” Blaine said. “He has spent the better part of his professional career branding so many local companies.”

Crabtree, on the other hand, was familiar with Blaine’s T-shirts projects for his church and knew they could form a successful partnership.

“I’ve known Will for over 20 or so years, and we both have a passion for Winter Garden, as well as art,” he said. “We both went to school for graphic arts.”

Both men create the designs and bounce ideas off of each other.

“Right now, we are just having fun with the creative process,” Crabtree said.

They liked the idea of tying the present to the past and named their new company after Winter Garden’s first mayor, A.B. Newton. He also published the city’s first newspaper and opened a dry goods and notions store downtown.

“We both have a tremendous amount of pride in the community,” Blaine said. “I think that a lot of that comes from the fact that we both have pretty deep roots here. My great-grandfather, Thomas Mann, used to own Mann & Mills in downtown Winter Garden. I imagine my great-grandfather, as well as so many that have gone on before us, would be amazed by how things have changed. I also think he’d get a big kick out of knowing that his family was still in the town he helped grow.”

Crabtree and Blaine don’t plan to use Newton’s likeness on their merchandise but are using his name to “get back to basics,” Crabtree said.

Blaine said: “The hope is the A.B. Newton brand will be a touchstone to our town’s great past and a celebration of things to come.”

The business partners plan to expand their product line next year, possibly adding mugs, children’s shirts and additional designs.

Contact Amy Quesinberry Rhode at [email protected].

IF YOU GO

Shop Small Saturday Holiday Sidewalk Sale

WHEN: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 29

WHERE: Downtown Winter Garden

DETAILS: This is a micro event sponsored by the Historic Downtown Merchants Association, the city of Winter Garden and American Express. It is organized to get residents to shop locally. Stores will be open, and there will be refreshments and entertainment at the gazebo by Mud Rooster from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Davis McGee from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. The farmers market will include an arts market.