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Joseph "J.P." O'Grady and Brendan Blumentritt began selling shirts out of backpacks after founding T-shirt company Aptemal Clothing LLC in 2007 with a $1,500 handprinting starter kit.
Today, their products line the shelves of local retailers and the phrase "Detroit Hustles Harder" covers the shirts, hats and mugs of a growing number of city residents and suburbanites.
Their catchphrase exemplifies their own entrepreneurial approach to life, and was a product of a 2008 brainstorming session between O'Grady, 27, and Blumentritt, 25.
"It came from us growing up in the city, everybody trying to make something from nothing" O'Grady said. "People here just need to work harder to get by."
Eminem wore the slogan during an appearance on BET in 2009, and by the next year, Aptemal's total sales had tripled. O'Grady and Blumentritt applied to trademark "Detroit Hustles Harder"...