Third String Goalie Holiday Shopping Guide - The Little Black Jersey Co.

Last year we ran this post about discovering Lise and her creative talents, which allows her to convert a hockey jersey into a dress.

Lise modeling one of her own creations

In addition to her ability to do the conversions, she also accepts custom orders to create them for a nominal fee.

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Penguins jersey beforeaaaaaaaaaaaPenguins jersey after

Once our post ran, we simply figured it would add some interesting variety to our blog and hopefully send some business Lise's way for being kind enough to let us feature her creations and answer our questions and that would be that.

However, wanting to drive some extra traffic to the blog that day to increase Lise's chance of getting a few orders for Christmas, we sent a link to our article to Paul Lukas, who writes the widely read blog Uni Watch, as any previous link from Uni Watch has always resulted in a five fold increase in our traffic for the day. Unbeknownst to us, our timing could not have been better, as Paul also writes a column for ESPN.com's Page 2 section and had just completed his annual holiday gift guide. Paul was kind enough to add a link to our blog not only on Uni Watch, but on ESPN.com as well. Fantastic!

Thinking that was pretty cool, we had no idea that was just the tip of the iceberg, as the ESPN story was then picked up by Fark.com, which caused our traffic spike off the charts! That mention caused our article to be reposted on various websites and message boards, including the widely read Puck Daddy blog on Yahoo!, resulting in a 2500% increase in our average daily traffic! The residual effect carried over and we had a ten fold increase the second day, nearly 7 times our normal the third day, 5 times on day four and twice our usual business on day five as people came across the various links that had been posted.

Lise flying the flag of her native Canada

Meanwhile, Lise was being contacted by various newspapers, radio and TV outlets, and not just ones local to her, but national ones! Being in at the source of an internet sensation certainly was a thrill for us and for Lise, who was interviewed by the Vancouver Sun, NHL Home Ice Radio, and was even asked to make four jersey dresses for a fashion show which appeared on the RDS Network (the French version of TSN/ESPN) in Canada!

Lise's inteview on NHL Home Ice

A year has now passed since our first article on Lise and we wanted to check in with her to see what she has been up to and what new creations she has made.

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TSG: How was it to have your small side business suddenly attract so much attention, and on a national scale too?

Lise: It was actually pretty crazy! I couldn’t believe how many newspapers and radio shows called me, and how many internet sites picked up the story after the original Third String Goalie blog post. There was a ton of support and also more than a little judgement – but as a Leaf fan I can take it all in stride.

TSG: Approximately how many dresses had you sold before last year's article and how many have you sold since?

Lise: Previously I was only making about 1-2 custom orders a month, which skyrocketed after the article and Christmas to 1-3 a week, took most of the summer off but now I’m back at it! Like the Leafs, things have taken off since the middle of last season! Unlike the Leafs, Bruins fans seem to like me...

TSG: Have you expanded your offerings in the last year?

Lise: I had a lot of people asking me for different things so now I offer to make hockey themed t-shirts into stylish and fun long sleeved women`s tops. I also expanded recently into the NFL and made my first NFL jersey dress (Go Jets!)

Lise showing off one of her t-shirt conversions

TSG: Have you been to any Maple Leafs games in your creations recently? By chance did anyone recognize you from being online?

Lise: I have yet to grace the Temple (ACC) with my presence this year, but I wore my creations to games last year and they were well received, but I`m not quite famous enough to be readily recognizable in public. I am hoping to be in attendance at a game in February and will be sporting a new dress I am making from the Leafs new third jersey (how awesome is the new third jersey? Right?). Someone online did send me a press photo that showed a fashionable Pens fan at a game in a dress I made for her. That was awesome!... unlike the Habs... who are terrible.

TSG: Do you have any dresses that are pre-made that can be delivered in time for Christmas?

Lise: Yep, I have a have a couple. Rangers and Kings available for purchase on ETSY.

TSG: If someone were to order a custom dress, when could they expect it and how much does it cost?

Lise: Turn around time is one week or less from the time I receive the jersey, or alternatively they can have me purchase a brand new jersey of their choice, in which case it is in the mail within a week from the time they order it. Cost aside from jersey-purchasing varies from $65-$100 for alteration depending on what style is requested. The whole process is listed in the custom order section on my ETSY site.

TSG: Where do you find the time to create so many when you are a Ph. D. student majoring in Biochemistry and Biomedical Science?

Lise: Short answer – I don`t sleep. Long answer – I love what I do, and I watch a lot of hockey -- this is when I get most of my inspiration and do my best work.

Lise, Miss Third String Goalie 2011

TSG: Are you still Canada's Most Eligible Bachelorette?

Lise: ........ Not exactly ; )

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Here is a look at some of her creations over the last year, which shows the variety she can create even when using the one team's basic jersey as a starting point.

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In addition, her jersey dresses are now starting to make waves across the NHL, as evidenced by Tammy Laverty wearing one of Lise's jersey dresses while sining the national anthem before an Ottawa Sentators game in September of this year.

Tammy Laverty looking hot in one of Lise's jersey conversions

If you would like to order your own custom hockey jersey dress or have a t-shirt converted, just contact Lise through her Etsy shop, Jersey Mods - The Little Black Jersey Co. or her JerseyMods Facebook page.

Thanks so much Lise for taking the time to answer our questions. We hope a few orders for jersey dresses come your way, as we really love your creativity and your various projects, plus any girl who has that many jerseys around the house is our kind of people!