Beginnings of Saw 'Em Off

A fellow Aggie, Kalaouze, Class of 1991, paid his way through A&M by selling T-shirts in the Memorial Student Center. After graduating, he continued selling T-shirts with his wife Hege, Class of 1990, growing his business into Aggieland Outfitters in 2000. In 1997, he started selling T-shirts with the "Saw 'Em Off" logo originally designed by former A&M student Travis Nap, paraphrasing a line from the Aggie War Hymn.

In a lawsuit, the University of Texas sought to halt Aggieland Outfitters' manufacturing of products with the logo because of possible consumer confusion: "Defendants' unauthorized use of UT marks complained herein is likely to cause confusion, to cause mistake, or to deceive customers," Pirkey wrote in the suit.

But for Kalaouze, halting sale of his most profitable product would strike a crippling blow to his small business. For a family owned business facing off with a wealthy university, Van Fleet (AO Lawyer) compared the dispute with the biblical fight between David and Goliath - just like the story, David won.

"We were always confident in our legal position," he said, adding the settlement was, "very much the desired outcome."

UT, however, also says they met their objective. In a statement, representatives for the University said their goal was to protect UT's logo, which is, they argue, the best and most valuable logo owned by any college or university.

Community Support

Kalaouze said he knew this would be a tough fight, considering the opponent, but it was a fight he would have to see to the end.

"I had a mission to accomplish: to save this tradition," he said. But accomplishing the mission was a costly one, and couldn't have been done without the support of the community, Kalaouze and Van Fleet acknowledged. "I can't owe them enough," he said.