Joshua Mayes, junior in liberal arts and sciences-open option, and Chad Smith, senior in aerospace engineering, wanted to keep in touch once Smith graduated and Mayes moved to Texas.

E-mail, letters and occasional phone calls wouldn’t be enough. Starting an online T-shirt store seemed perfect.

“We both wanted to do something fun and that we didn’t have to do much work for,” Mayes said.

Their company, Nice Face Clothing, will launch its Web site next week.

The clothing line features shirts inspired by offbeat clothing shops and mainstream stores such as Urban Outfitters.

Mayes and Smith said they liked the witty sayings on shirts found in Urban Outfitters and thought they could come up with even better sayings.

Smith said Nice Face Clothing is targeted toward 15-to-28-year-olds, particularly those in the punk rock scene.

The shirts, which range in price from $10 to $20, will be available on the company’s Web site, www.nicefaceclothing.com.

The line features both jersey and regular T-shirts. They come in mostly black and white, with comments ranging from “cute to borderline offensive,” Mayes said.

Some of the sayings include, “British Women Think I’m Sexy,” “Ireland: Home of Red Hair” and “I’m On Drugs!”

Mayes and Smith said a green shirt reading “Vietnam” has been the most popular, especially among punk rock bands.

The name Nice Face Clothing evolved from a joke between Mayes and Smith.

“It is an old expression from high school,” Smith said. “We would say things to each other like, ‘Nice shoes’ and then the other would say, ‘Nice face.’ You just can’t come back with a comment to that.”

Mayes took the joke outside of his circle of friends.

“I was shopping with my dad, and the lady working at the store was being really mean, so I said ‘Nice face,'” he said. “She got really angry.”

When in the experimentation stage, Mayes and Smith approached T Galaxy Retail, 206 Welch Ave., with their idea.

“We print shirts for companies all over the country, and when [Mayes and Smith] approached us, they were looking for a company that could continue to work with them when they left Ames,” said Nicole Lyftogt, store manager at T Galaxy. “They are great kids, [and] we really enjoy working with them.”

Mayes and Smith have sold a few shirts to friends in New York City and Ames and have received a good response.

“People think they are catchy, fun and cool,” Mayes said.

Although Mayes is moving to Houston and Smith is moving to California after graduation, the two have big dreams for their clothing line.

“We will communicate through e-mail and over the phone,” Smith said.

“We would love it if Nice Face took off.”

Mayes and Smith are focusing on Web site sales for now and said they would like to promote the line around major cities.

In the future, the two plan to include different colored shirts in the line. They will also be adding sweatshirts and hats to the collection soon.

“I would love to take the shirts on the road and sell them at concerts and music festivals,” Mayes said.

“Maybe we’ll be able to do this for the rest of our lives.”