Wear Your Exit Proudly

Posted February 6, 2008 by John T. Ward

An enterprising pair of cousins has turned the classic Jersey put-down into a marketing tool.

“What exit?” Detractors point to the widespread use of that iconic phrase as proof of our parochialism or inelegance or both. Last summer cousins Kari A. Palmieri and Peter Palmieri decided it was high time to merge the idiom with a staple of Garden State fashion. Their line of T-shirts emblazoned with What’s Your NJ Exit? bear your exit sign of choice on the front and the Turnpike or Parkway logo on the back.

Graphic designer Kari, 24, a Parsippany resident—Parkway exit 145, if you ignore the extra half-hour drive—calls herself “a Jersey Girl all the way.” Peter, 25, formerly of Fairfield—Parkway exit 153B or Turnpike exit 16W—now lives in Washington, D.C., where he works in media relations.

With plenty of orders coming in from homesick ex-pats overseas, including soldiers stationed in South Korea and Germany, the shirts are selling well through the cousins’ Web site, whatsyournjexit.com. Most popular so far: Parkway exits 63, 82, and 98 (Long Beach Island, Seaside Heights, and Point Pleasant, respectively). This year they’ve increased production, and shirts for other roads may soon be under construction. Yo, Route 3!

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