🦓 The Accidental Birth of a Zebra Empire

What started as a misheard “OMG” turned into a full-blown tee shirt eruption. Fifteen years ago, a teenager said something innocent, and her ear-hustling dad heard “LMZ.”

“What the hell is LMZ? Lucky Midget Zebra?”

That’s what I said. And just like that, a family joke was born.

Gag gifts turned into zebra keepsakes. LMZ became a symbol—of humor, chaos, and unity. It wasn’t going anywhere. And like all good things, it grew.

Then came the tagline. Sort of.

We don’t plan anything. We just vibe. Two daughters, social media, and a ton of attitude? That’s a recipe for magic. One college argument, one sister chiming in (because that’s what we do), and a flurry of finsta rage later, we had it:

“U FINNA GET UR SHIT ROCKED.”

Coming from a straight-A, Mary Poppins-type teen? Even better.

Then the wifey found “Lucky”—our chubby zebra mascot, drink in hoof, smirk on face. He just fit. Because what better mascot for an interracial, blended family that forgets it’s interracial or blended? In our house, one person’s bullshit is everyone’s bullshit.

So we borrowed a press, slapped Lucky and his mantra on some tees, and added a few obnoxious sayings—because I’m obnoxious. It was all for us… until Mexico happened.

Poolside, strangers started asking:

“Where’d you get that?”

“I love it!”

“Can I buy one?”

We came home with email addresses, new Facebook friends, and a mission. We started pressing shirts, mailing them across the country, and wearing them everywhere. People loved them. People hated them. (How dare I wear that shirt in front of your kids.)

So we launched a grassroots, backwoods (not that kind) neighborhood-style jawn (look it up). Then we went on vacation again. Rinse, repeat. More shirts, more laughs, more mailings.

Eventually, we realized: we can’t keep this to ourselves. Everyone deserves a Lucky Midget Zebra tee.