International Lineman's Rodeo competitors often think about their T-shirt designs for the annual Trade Night months before the swap begins. They carefully consider the lineworker-themed design, the color and the style of the T-shirt, and reflect on how well it will trade on the night before the Lineman's Rodeo.
In fact, some of the T-shirts are in demand and are hot-ticket items. For example, one year, I saw a lineworker trade the T-shirt off his own back to another competitor to get the shirt he wanted during Trade Night.
Throughout the trading session, the lineworkers and their loved ones make deals until they walk away with a duffel bag of T-shirts from all over the world. All of these shirts are different, but they have one thing in common -- they all celebrate the line trade.
My 16-year-old daughter, Lily, and I roamed around the first floor of the Overland Park Convention Center on Trade Night to select some of our favorite designs for this photo gallery. I am also including a video below of more designs from Trade Night. If you have a T-shirt design you would like for us to include, please email it to me. I'd love to hear from you!
2025 Shirt Slideshow
About the Author
Amy Fischbach
Electric Utilities Operations
Amy Fischbach is the Field Editor for T&D World magazine and manages the Electric Utility Operations section. She is the host of the Line Life Podcast, which celebrates the grit, courage and inspirational teamwork of the line trade. She also works on the annual Lineworker Supplement and the Vegetation Management Supplement as well as the Lineman Life and Lineman's Rodeo News enewsletters. Amy also covers events such as the Trees & Utilities conference and the International Lineman's Rodeo. She is the past president of the ASBPE Educational Foundation and ASBPE and earned her bachelor's and master's degrees in journalism from Kansas State University. She can be reached at [email protected].