With fire departments laying off firefighters across the North America, Firehouse Shirt Club finds a way to give back to the industry it honors.

It is common in the fire service for firefighters to swap station T-shirts from other fire departments. Most fire departments generally have more than one station. Firefighters locally and nationally often compete with one another over which department has the best T-shirt that represents their station.

Firehouse Shirt Club is a T-shirt company owned and operated by career firefighter Jim Scano and entrepreneur, Brett Hersley. The company features one authentic fire department station T-shirt every month from real fire departments.

Customers purchase the featured station T-shirt-of-the-month, through an individual monthly membership and every month a different station T-shirt is delivered to the customer. For every membership purchased, a donation goes back to the featured fire station. The featured station has the choice to donate the money to charity or use the money for their station.

“It’s friendly competition and the donations add up, says Scano. The intention of creating Firehouse Shirt Club was to have fun and show support among my fellow firefighters and to give back to the fire stations that design the shirts. For every T-shirt we sell through our membership, $2 is donated back to the station. The donations can turn into a significant amount of money.”

Firehouse Shirt Club began in June of 2011, and has featured station T-shirt designs from the Dallas, Los Angeles, Chicago and Portland fire departments. T-shirts are made from high quality, 6 ounce, 100% cotton and the colors are typically black, navy or gray. Sizes range from small to 3XL.

“Quality is key, says partner Brett Hersley, and there are other companies that sell fire department T-shirts. However, they are not authentic designs from fire stations and even more importantly we give back to an industry that gives so much of themselves to the community they serve. For example, the Chicago Fire Department, Engine Company #5 will be donating their ‘give-back’ proceeds of the membership to the Chris Wheatley Memorial Fund. Chris Wheatley was a firefighter who died in the line of duty.”

The Firehouse Shirt Club Membership is $20 per month and there is no cost for shipping. Memberships can be cancelled at any time. Holiday gift certificates for memberships are available. Memberships can be purchased on the company’s website at www.FireHouseShirtClub.com or calling 214-901-7059.

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