WHO IS DOODER?

My name is Dean Wilhite. I’m a car guy through and through. My uncle Don Hardy built drag race cars. So it was a no-brainer that I would bleed oil. Every summer I spent a week at my grandparents house. With my uncle Don’s shop just down the street, I could spend as much time as I wanted watching the guys weld and bend pipe and turn a pile of metal into the best dragsters in the country.

My uncle was a huge influence on me and the reason I love cars. My first memories are of mag wheels, motors, chrome and shiny paint. When I started drawing at a very early age, cars were my subject. I drew cars and trucks as a kid and now draw cars as an adult under the name dooderwear.

My uncle Don had company 
t-shirts that he gave to customers. He made sure my brothers and I had all we could wear. I wore those shirts everyday. Just wearing something with cars made me feel right. That’s the way I feel today. I need to be wearing clothes with something automotive printed on them.

When I bought my mini I looked everywhere for awesome t-shirts that had my new love printed on them. It was pretty slim pickings. I was proud of my mini and wanted everyone to know it. Just like wearing a t-shirt for your favorite band, I wanted people to have no doubt what my automotive love was.

Being a graphic designer made the drought of mini t-shirts a little easier to deal with. I would just design my own. Print enough for me and have extras for friends to buy. Sweet. Soon friends wanted their favorite mini on a shirt of their own. Dooderwear was born.

Known throughout the world for producing the best classic mini t-shirts, Dooderwear has made a considerable impact in the mini world. Dooderwear designs help you tell the world just how much you love your mini. They respect the mini as an icon and raise it above the level of a cartoon clown car. Since the beginning, Dooderwear has been able to relate with the world’s mini owners for one simple reason. Dooderwear is a mini owner. Designing what I want to wear, telling the story I want to tell about my beloved little go-kart with doors is your story too. Each new design is created to give you a sense of pride of ownership of one of the greatest motors in automotive history.

WHAT'S UP WITH THE SILLY NAME?

The name comes from a nick name my dad gave me when I was just a wee little feller. He would often say, “Boy that Dean is a real dude.” After a while it stuck and he just called me Dooder.