Story by ILLson

Driving to The Fineprint studio, I passed the Museum of Science and Industry and thought, “Ahhhh, Chicago. This is why I put up with your garment piercing wind and war zone like roads.” My sentimental feelings for this city are what also drew me to Laurent Varlet and his Chicago-based silk screening company, The Fine Print.
            When I first met Laurent, he was wearing a Chicago flag white tee and a grey zip hoodie with Scottie Pippen shooting a basketball that was across the zipper. He picked up my signed B.J. Armstrong Bulls hat, and we started to chat about vintage Bulls gear and the best city in the world--Chicago. It turned out that The Fineprint is exactly what I’ve been looking for, for years. A clothing company focused on representing it is love for Chicago. “It’s not like I’m trying to say Chicago is better than where ever, but I’m from here and I’m going to represent it. Well, I’m kinda saying it’s better.” Laurent laughs.

            I arrived at the Hyde Park studio, right off the University of Chicago campus, and walked into this basement studio to find a screen press in the middle, silks and paints in the back and pictures of Chicago sports icons and Chicago flags all over the wall.
            Laurent handed me a shirt with Obama wearing a Bulls jersey with the number 44 and a basketball in his right palm. The jersey had a hypnotizing bubble pattern that looked like the walls of the Beijing Olympic Swimming Center.
            “When we showed this at our fashion show everyone freaked out,” he said, still with a little shock in his voice. I hung out as Laurent put together a Chicago capital of Illinois shirt. He moved effortlessly from setting screens to mixing inks with the grace of a craftsman. “I started when I was in college.” Laurent told me while he squeegeed paint evenly and steadily across a screen of Illinois. “And I would do it real guerrilla-style back then. I would have to coat the screens in my closet, and I wouldn’t allow my roommates to turn on the lights in the room for a night or two.”
            Laurent transformed his dorm room hobby into a company in 2008 with partners Jt Thrall and Eddie Camacho. The Fineprint is gaining recognition all over Chicago, but is also giving back to public school art programs along the way.

            “We funded a project for these kids at Hyde Park High. I was actually able to get in touch with the teacher and show them how to use the supplies. We’re trying to make sure that kids have access to art supplies, because when schools run short on funding--as public schools often do in Chicago--the first thing to get cut is art and music.”
            The future for The Fineprint is bright as Laurent isn’t satisfied with traditional silk screening and is taking it to the next level: designing shoe displays that act as Slick Rick’s chain. And what’s next for the promising company? “I want to get into cut and sew. I want to have people who design garments, with screens specifically designed.”
To buy shirts by The Fineprint check out www.fnprnt.com