Pam Panchak, Post-Gazette Kevin Stecko, owner of 80sTees.com, shows off one of his company's shirts, which pays homage to the 1985 film "Back to the Future," at his warehouse in North Huntingdon. Click photo for larger image.

Two Pittsburgh companies have a few new tricks up their sleeves to cash in on Americans' long-standing love affair with T-shirts.

These online firms, launched by twentysomethings barely old enough to remember a world without the Internet, are betting that the movement toward using the Web as a virtual watercooler for speaking out and showing off will help them capture a piece of the $21-plus billion T-shirt industry.

Kevin Stecko's T-shirts may be retro, but the online marketing strategy of his company, 80stees.com, isn't.

The company's North Huntingdon-based T-shirt warehouse feeds the nostalgia-hungry with 1,500 different ways to pay homage to everything from the 1980s "Transformers" cartoon to Sasha Baron Cohen's movie alter ego, Borat. Yesterday, he jetted off to Los Angeles for the premiere of the sixth installment of Sylvester Stallone's "Rocky" movie franchise -- a movie Mr. Stecko helped promote by selling T-shirts.

	Lindsay Patross, a marketing executive with Spreadshirt.com, uses the company's "I heart PGH" T-shirts to market her blog, iheartpgh.com, a guide to the city's hot spots. Click photo for larger image. THE COMPANIES Spreadshirt.com A Web-based seller of design-it-yourself apparel, including T-shirts, hats and bike messenger-style bags. Headquarters: Leipzig, Germany. U.S. operations based in Greensburg. Founded: 2002 Employees: 250, 80 locally Executive: U.S- based Chief Executive Officer Jana Eggers. Bonus fact: Customers can buy and sell their custom-made gear at Spreadshirt.com. 80stees.com A Web-based retailer of T-shirts and paraphernalia inspired by late 20th century and 21st century pop culture. Headquarters: North Huntingdon Founded: 2000 Employees: 12 Executive: President Kevin Stecko Bonus fact: Celebrity clients include Shaquille O'Neil and Tim Allen, who'll wear a T-shirt with rock band AC/DC's logo in his upcoming film "Wild Hogs."

Mr. Stecko said 80stees was on hot Web sites such as MySpace and YouTube long before mainstream advertisers discovered them.

"It's really no different than hanging out a shingle ... and saying, 'Come talk to us,' " he said.

Of course, 80stees also has a blog, a Web tool now considered practically old-hat by tech-savvy insiders. Refreshed daily by Mr. Stecko, 80stees' nearly 5-year-old blog is chock-full of strategically chosen words aimed at boosting its visibility on Google searches.

Spreadshirt .com has its own in-house blogging expert, former political organizer Lindsay Patross. As marketing executive, Ms. Patross serves as the company's online evangelist. She's charged with attracting wannabe video, audio and blogging Internet stars who will use Spreadshirt's Web site to design and sell T-shirts to help market their message and themselves.

"You're no longer limited to what the [industry] buyers think is cool -- it's about what you want and think is cool," said Ms. Patross.

In fact, Ms. Patross uses Spreadshirt, a German firm whose U.S. operations are based in Greensburg, to spread the word and hawk gear sporting the mantra of her own blog, Iheartpgh .com.

"People figured that with Internet dating and chatting we would never leave our houses," Ms. Patross said. Instead, blogs and information and media swapping Web sites such as Myspace.com have blurred the lines between the virtual and real worlds and expanded the definition of celebrity -- opening the door for average Joes to gain their 15-minutes of cyber-fame.

Despite their popularity, YouTube videos have yet to prove their worth as a marketing tool. Although they've yet to spike demand or even inspire one of Mr. Stecko's T-shirts, he expects that someday a homemade video will -- and he'll be waiting.

"I know where I like to be on the Web," he said, "so I make sure 80stees.com is there, too."