In 2011, two teachers on campus, Jeb Matulich and Brian Wysong started the clothing brand Tumbleweed TexStyles, with most of its sales coming from an online site. Now, nine years later, their first physical store opens Saturday at 10:00 a.m. on Main Street in the Railyard District.

“It was about 2011 when we kicked off the brand,” Matulich said. “He’d (Wysong) seen me drawing some stuff in a summer meeting and we kind of started kicking around some ideas of what we could do with my art and his entrepreneurial spirit. And so we came up with a t-shirt brand themed on Texas, which is a lot of what I did my artwork with.”

A chance encounter between Matulich and Wysong sparked an idea that would soon develop into much more.

“I saw coach Matulich drawing a piece of art and we thought it would be a great opportunity to put that on a shirt; a walking billboard, and started Tumbleweed TexStyles as a hobby,” Wysong said.

What originally started out as a hobby turned into something that was beyond belief for both parties.

“When we started out it was just for fun,” Matulich said. “I wanted to put some of my drawings on a shirt and just give it to some friends and family, see if we could sell a few, just as a side gig for fun for a little bit of extra money. But now, it’s a full scale business; we have employees, accountants, lawyers, and we’ve got our new store coming, so it’s like a real business. It’s definitely taken off well beyond what I would have ever thought it would be.”

Even though their business simply started out as selling a few shirts here and there, Matulich and Wysong both bet on their company.

“We created one shirt and invested 700 dollars together,” Matulich said. “We sold about a third of them, got our money back, and designed new shirts. We just kept growing and growing and doing the same thing over and over again.”

A business built from the ground up, Tumbleweed TexStyles has gone on to work with retailers and companies far from the comfort zone of Frisco.

“We’ve served over a thousand retailers throughout the United States and we’ve shipped shirts all throughout the U.S. and other countries,” Wysong said.

Tumbleweed TexStyles also values the importance of giving back, especially to the school district.

“One of the things that coach Matulich and I really wanted to do was give back in many different ways,” Wysong said. “We helped out when the hurricane came and hit Texas and donated a lot of shirts and money. But what we really wanted to give back to was education. So, each year, we help scholarship two or three graduating seniors through the Frisco Education Foundation, so a portion of each shirt and product sold from here at the store as well as online goes back to that fund to help scholarship those students.”

The brand sells a wide variety of items geared toward living in Texas.

“Other than the T-shirts and hats that you are used to from the brand, we are excited to offer water bottles, jewelry and accessories,” store manager Carissa Gonzales said. “We also partnered with a brand outside of Dallas for some leather goods. So, there’s gonna be leather cuffs, clutches, wallets; it’s a really great collection.”

With the grand opening of the store tomorrow, the Tumbleweed team has lots in store.

“As soon as you’re walking in the door, you’re surrounded by this lifestyle with music, art, sports, outdoors, and Texas of course,” Gonzales said. “So, we are just really excited to share it with everyone.”

But, Tumbleweed TexStyles is more than just a business as Wysong hopes that others see the store as a reminder of Texas; a reminder of home.

“We thought it was a natural transition from online sales and selling through our retailers to have our own place,” Wysong said. “We wanted a store where customers could come and we could talk to them, shake their hands and also tell the story about our brand and our product. We also wanted to have the opportunity to showcase the things we do and offer them right here in our home; our community of Frisco.”

Long time supporter of the brand, economics teacher Fred Kaiser, wishes the best for the new store.

“It’s kind of a tough time for anyone to be opening a business right now with COVID and everything going on,” Kaiser said. “But, their stuff is unbelievable. So, I hope it all goes well. They deserve it.”

Even with precautions set due to COVID-19, Matulich is very optimistic about the grand opening.

“I think the grand opening is going to go well,” Matulich said. Of course with COVID, there’s kind of a concern because it’s not the biggest space, so trying to pack a bunch of people in there probably isn’t the safest thing. We will probably have to limit the amount of people that are in there at one time. But, we are expecting a very large turnout.”