Shlachter, Perotin, Fuquay & Co.: Others saw UFOs, but they saw money

By Barry Shlachter, Maria M. Perotin and Jim FuquayStar-Telegram Staff Writers

While Stephenville's collective image might not have been enhanced by its UFO sightings, a canny, family-run venture called Barefoot Athletics was quick to exploit the phenomenon.

It screened and sold nearly 7,000 UFO T-shirts at $12.95 apiece over a nine-day period this month, ringing up sales topping $90,000.

And much of that was profit because the shirts and printing cost Barefoot less than $3 apiece at those quantities, says Matt Copeland, 36, a high school football coach turned entrepreneur.

Copeland actually didn't think that they'd move when his wife, Katy, the accounts-payable manager, informed him that "Oh, by the way, we went and printed up 50 UFO T-shirts."

"You won't sell any, but that's OK," he replied.

But the shirts did sell.

One played off Stephenville's "Cowboy capital of the world" motto, with "UFO" scrawled above a crossed-out "Cowboy" next to a space alien with a cowboy hat. Another, a nod to the numerous surrounding dairies, depicted a spaceship beaming up a Holstein, which asked, "What UFO?"

Barefoot shipped them to 18 states and 23 countries after mentions by MSNBC, CNN's Larry King Live, the Star-Telegram, the Houston Chronicle, WFAA/Channel 8, KXAN/Channel 36 in Austin and the CW network.

Some buyers made a quick buck themselves, reselling them for $19.99 on eBay, Copeland said. "We got lucky on this deal. It wasn't skill. People are just crazy over these stupid T-shirts," Copeland said.

Barefoot Athletics began as a sporting-goods store in Whitney five years ago without a shoe line, hence the "barefoot" name.

Moving to far larger quarters, it still has a retail store but also prints and sells T-shirts and athletic uniforms to schools and various organizations. Sales have grown from $200,000 in 2002 to $1.98 million last year, Copeland said.

Although it's no longer shoeless -- "We picked up Adidas," Copeland says -- the name stayed.

Because of the T-shirts, some Stephenville people have come to believe that Barefoot Athletics is the agency that UFO sightings should be reported to, he said. "I tell them, 'We just sell the shirts.'"

Still, the whole episode gave him some ideas about gullibility.

"If I'd known we'd sell so many T-shirts in January, then a year ago I should have said I'd spotted Sasquatch going across the Tarleton University campus."