Caroline Keen-Harlock, left, and Linda Jarjoura outside their offices at the Workantile Exchange on. S. Main St. ~ Photo by Janet Miller for AnnArbor.com

Linda Jarjoura, Caroline Keen-Harlock and Cindy Mark are out to prove that good causes and smart fashion don’t have to clash like plaids and stripes.

The three women this past summer launched Ann Arbor-based LunaTeque, makers of high-quality, high-tech shirts for promoting good causes, from the American Lung Association to Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. 

LunaTeque wants to take the ubiquitous white T-shirt - handed out by charities and causes to the next level, adding style, art and good fit. “People wear those big, boxy T-shirts to clean their car or as smocks for children when they finger paint,” Keen-Harlock said. “We’re taking the event shirt and raising it up a notch.”

LunaTeque (don’t miss the double entendre) offers moisture-wicking fitted shirts made from high-tech polyester in the United States. They are are digitally printed in Ann Arbor and sent to a plant in Virginia to be cut and sewn. The print-first, sew-later system allows the shirts to carry a 360-degree design, unlike traditional screen printing that usually focuses the design on the center of a shirt.

LunaTeque has been able to tap into the technology and printing facilities of Cliff Keen Athletics, Ann Arbor-makers of wrestling and officials’ uniforms. Keen-Harlock’s family owns Cliff Keen Athletics. 

The three women researched and developed their business model for a year, attending cause-marketing forums, where non-profits gather.

“We did a ton of networking to see if there was interest in a premium product that was so customized,” Jarjoura said. “They said they needed a higher quality product, that they felt sheepish about the boxy, beefy Tees that people would never wear.”

Organizations can contract with LunaTeque to provide the artwork (they use mostly Michigan-based artists) or they can supply their own art. There is a 10-shirt minimum order, but organizations don’t have to stock pile the shirts. Instead, they can order incrementally, and individuals can order directly from LunaTeque.

This will save on up-front costs and eliminate waste, Jarjoura said. “They don’t have to carry an inventory.” Digital printing allows them to make small quantities, Keen-Harlock said. “Being digital allows us a lot more freedom and a lot more colors and detail.”

But premium shirts come with a premium price. While traditional screen-printed shirts can cost as little as $7 each, LunaTeque shirts cost $38 to organizations that sell them in quantity or $48-$58 retail.

“We like to think of it as spending advertising dollars because the shirts raise awareness,” Keen-Harlock said. “It’s a statement garment.”

The company’s largest single order so far has been for 750 shirts, and they hope to climb to 1,000 shirts a month in 2010, Jarjoura said.

LunaTeque works in two arenas: Most of their sales so far have been special orders from organizations that want custom-made shirts for an event or to give to VIP donors. This has included a fundraising event for the Ndebele Art Project in California to the Maine chapter of the American Lung Association and their Trek Across Maine cycling event.

Custom sales to organizations have accounted for 95 percent of LunaTeque sales so far, Jarjoura said. But the company also sells a retail line, promoting broad causes such as saving bee colonies and ADHD, from their Web site, www.LunaTeque.com.

The retail line could morph into cause sales, Jarjoura said. Their bee colony design caught the eye of national brand Burt’s Bees, she said. “We’ve been talking to the people at Burt’s Bees about shirts for 2010 Earth Day celebration.”