Pride Collection
Pride
This collection celebrates Pride! We value all members of the LGBTQIA+ community and stand with all LGBTQIA+ people for equality and justice.
During Pride, we also remember and honor the 1969 Stonewall Riots that catalyzed the larger LGBTQIA+ movement and the Trans women of color that have led this movement from the beginning. Because of the intersections of racism, transphobic, homophobia, and sexism, Black Trans and gender non-conforming people face some of the highest levels of discrimination and violence.
Collaborations with members of the LGBTQIA+ Community
For our Pride collection, we collaborated with members of the LGBTQIA+ community for production of the t-shirts and to bring a new colorful creation to eMpulse line! Our friend and queer artist Doug (@thegrowzonesd) hand makes amazing ceramic creations and we are exciting to add his Rainbow Heart ornaments to our Pride pack! You can shop his designs at his pop-up stand at the Leucadia Farmer's Market. We are also excited to collaborate with Norman (@customclothingco), who completed the DTG printing process for our t-shirts!
The Okra Project
This month as we reflect on the history of the LGBTQIA+ movement and continued hard work ahead, we have chosen to donate a portion of our sales from this collection to The Okra Project. The Okra Project provides home cooked meals, mental health recovery funds, and other resources to Black Trans people.
We will be donating 10% of our sales from the entire collection to The Okra Project. You can visit their website to donate directly and learn more here: https://www.theokraproject.com
About the Pride T-shirts
Our Rainbow Pride tees are ethically and sustainably made in Los Angeles, and printed in San Diego. The fabric is recycled cotton, repurposed from post-industrial cotton waste in Los Angeles. The workers that make these t-shirts earn higher than minimum wage.
We are excited to add recycled cotton into our fabric mix. Repurposing cotton waste from the manufacturing process eliminates the need for additional water, energy, soil, and pesticides (used in non organic cotton).
The recycled cotton process starts by reclaiming post-industrial cotton waste in mills where yarn is manufactured. This waste includes cotton fibers, soil, and tiny pieces of the cotton plant, giving the fabric a raw color. We chose to not bleach or dye the fabric either, eliminating chemicals from the production process.
After fabric production, cutting and sewing, our t-shirts are then printed with our original eMpulse Rainbow Palm Tree graphic. We used a DTG printing process, which is a digital printing process, eliminating the usage of water and run-off. We hope you love our colorful Pride inspired graphic and enjoy celebrating Pride year round!
About the Pride Hats
Our organic cotton pride hats feature our simple, yet colorful rainbow palm tree graphic on the front. The back is just as exciting with our rainbow eMpulse Pride logo, with an adjustable fit. The hats are locally embroidered in Encinitas by our friend and local skater Shea.
About the Fanny Packs
Our fanny packs are made from deadstock denim fabric and materials that we sourced at flea markets. Our friend and neighbor Molly (@handmade.hum) is a local seamstress who helped sew all of our fanny packs right here in Ocean Beach. We are excited to have found fun colorful zippers, clasps, and webbing to bring pops of color to our versatile denim fanny packs.
About the Pride Rainbow Ornaments
We are excited to feature our friend and queer artist, Doug’s, handmade Rainbow heart ceramic ornaments! They are the perfect piece to show your pride around your home.
Resources to learn more, support, & donate:
History of The 1969 Stonewall Riots: https://gothamist.com/arts-entertainment/how-stonewall-transformed-the-lgbt-civil-rights-movement
History of the Stonewall Riots and the Leaders: https://www.them.us/story/who-threw-the-first-brick-at-stonewall
The House of Resilience, a community organization building San Diego’s first free community home for tans women of color: www.horsd.org
The Human Rights Campaign’s glossary of some self identified terminology: https://www.hrc.org/resources/glossary-of-terms
San Diego Pride Page: https://sdpride.org/about/
The Trevor Project, the leading national organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to LGBTQIA+ youth: www.thetrevorproject.org
Some of our favorite LGBTQIA+ Instagram accounts to follow, support and learn from:
@alokvmenon
@grlswirl & @grlswirlsandiego
@mattxiv
@pattiegonia
@trevorproject
@them
@thehouseofresilience
@theokraproject
@queerbrownvegan