We didn’t set out to make a shirt. It’s not very original. There are so many shirts on the market. And we’re not talking about the shops at every airport and tourist attraction in the country. Every single fashion brand has a t-shirt.
What we wanted to do was create a way for people to showcase their shared values and beliefs. We wanted to give people a way to make a statement about what they care about. And we wanted to create beautiful designs that expressed these ideas.
What better way to do that then to wear it on your chest?
You can get a shirt printed in a day if you want. There are countless ready-made options on the market. Seriously, countless. But first, we had some criteria:
- It had to be made from organic cotton or sustainable materials
- It had to be super soft, the type of shirt that felt like you’d owned it for years
- It had to fit great, like it was tailored just for you
- It had to be made in the US
Against these must haves, the universe of options narrowed. Still, we sampled everything on the market. There are some great shirts. Some were very soft, but they didn’t fit quite right. Others were made from sustainable materials but just didn’t feel right to the touch. Still others only came in a couple of colors. Nothing fit our specifications.
So we decided to make our own, from scratch.
We brought in multiple swatches of fabric. We narrowed to a couple different sustainable materials, including one that was 100% organic cotton. Then we made samples using those fabrics. The fit is never going to be perfect at first because each material is different. We went through multiple sizing rounds, tweaking length, neck width and stitching. It took weeks upon weeks to get it right.
The shirt is an original. Knitted, cut, sewn and dyed in the US with 100% organic cotton. It is incredibly soft and fits great.
That’s how we ended up making a shirt.