SISTER LAKES — Since she was a child, Tracy Braman has been coming to Magician Lake. During these trips, she remembered seeing her “gramp” wear a Sister Lakes shirt, which he had designed with a friend. The shirt had a logo on the front to incorporate every lake of Sister Lakes in the design.

A year ago, Braman started Sister Lakes Shirts out of her home, selling shirts with a similar logo to the one designed by her grandfather to honor his legacy.

For the past 10 years, Braman has lived on Magician Lake with her family. Her grandfather, who had a house on Magician Lake since the 1970s, passed away a couple of years ago. His death inspired Braman to team up with her brother to bring back the design of their grandfather’s shirt.

“Sister Lakes has always been a special place for me,” Braman said. “Specifically, because of the special relationship I had with my gramps.”

Although the siblings have since lost the original Sister Lakes shirt their grandfather used to wear, they were able to track down the friend who helped with the design, Braman said.

Ultimately, Sister Lakes Shirts was born with the mission to provide people with apparel to fit their needs, Braman said.

“Many people ask about Sister Lakes apparel,” Braman said. “There are some options, but weren’t any from a perspective that really spoke to what we really loved about the lake. We really wanted to show all the different lakes on there.”

Through her job at a hospital in Grand Rapids, Braman connected with an individual who helped design the new logo that would help carry on their grandfather’s legacy, she said. The new logo included: Magician Lake, Big Crooked Lake, Little Crooked Lake, Cable Lake, Dewey Lake, Round Lake, Indian Lake, Priest Lake and Keeler Lake.

Sister Lakes Shirts added a new design this year, incorporating a compass and listing Sister Lakes’ latitude and longitudinal coordinators on the front. The siblings are also attempting to do more on their social media page to connect with buyers. Sales have mostly been made through word of mouth or people seeing Braman’s family wearing the shirts out in public.

At one point, Sister Lakes Shirts partnered with Rosy Tomorrows, a local shop in Dowagiac, but the right clientele from Sister Lakes were not finding the shirts there, Braman said.

“It was really nice to have that opportunity, but it wasn’t working for us,” she said. “We just decided to sell them this way for now. We will see how it goes.”

Last weekend, Braman competed in the Sister Lakes Triathlon while her brother and sister-in-law manned the Sister Lakes Shirts booth set up at the race.

“We had a lot of great comments. People saying, ‘We need these types of things for the lakes,’” she said. “We had a couple of people ask about getting larger orders for their family. It was really nice to talk with individuals out there and truly just make the contacts. That’s how sales are going to happen.”

Currently, Sister Lakes Shirts does not print locally, but this past weekend Braman connected with Keeping You in Stitches, a company that could print the T-shirts closer to home. She plans on reaching out.

Braman sees her shirts as the ultimate memory for people who love the lakes.

“Most of the people are from Illinois who come up here, so they wear it around back home, she said. “It’s almost like two degrees of separation. Someone that you know knows someone who has a place on Sister Lakes.”

Readers interested in learning more about Sister Lakes Shirts can contact the Sister Lakes Shirts Facebook page or Tracy Braman on her private Facebook page.