JANA EGGERS

Spreadshirt CEO, triathlete and big-time geek

By CHRISTINE LIU

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Jana Eggers joins me at a café, sporting a bright green T-shirt with "Ihr seid spitze" screen-printed across the chest. The Boston-based Global CEO of Spreadshirt-a Germany-based company whose website enables anyone to order one-off custom apparel like the very shirt she's sporting-recently gave an acceptance speech in German (note: English is her first language) regarding her promotion from North American CEO. She's fond of the phrase "you rock," and "ihr seid spitze" is the rough German translation-literally, "you're sharp." However, an unintentional mispronunciation took a JFK-reminiscent toll during the speech: "I ended with [the phrase], and what they thought I said was 'You're a pizza'!" The shirt commemorates the humorous faux pas.

Despite her self-proclamation as a "big geek," Eggers is one of the most friendly and sociable geeks around. "I'm from Arkansas, so there are truck drivers-I love to talk to them," she says, explaining her extroversion. It's not something you'd necessarily associate with an expert in computational chemistry and supercomputing. Eggers's history includes a stint at Los Alamos National Laboratory, doing research on how to put electrons through plastic and polymers, as well as logistics at Princeton Transportation Consulting Group. Before her current gig, she managed Quickbase at Intuit, and founded and ran their corporate innovation lab. But she soon got seduced by Spreadshirt: "I really fell for them." It doesn't hurt that she also notes good-naturedly, "I like Germans and Germany; I think they're fascinating and fun!"

And, I have to admit, designing your own wearable on Spreadshirt is wicked addictive. I played around with the web interface for a couple of hours until I obsessively perfected my fuzzy-lettered, green-dinosaured hoodie. Eggers claims it takes 13 labor-intensive minutes to produce each inarguably non-mass-manufactured custom design: "We hand-make them; the process is truly one-off." The special flex printing technique resists fading and cracking, and everything-from the fabrics (including organic cotton with bamboo options underway) to every flat, fuzzy, shiny font-is tested vigorously for superior wear. And I wouldn't doubt Eggers, a triathlete who not only knows how to break a sweat, but also is making serious moves in the league of creative technology.

[spreadshirt.com, lifeonashirt.com]