Strong Athletic's Newest Feminist Design our Strong Athletic Woman Shirt gets a Makeover
Hey! We're Strong Athletic. Maybe you know us and you have a few of our tanks, tees and hats in your collection, or maybe this is your intro to our company? Regardless, we're glad you're here.
This shirt is made by Strong Athletic the Austin Texas based company that wants to ensure that all athletes can play sports. Strong Athletic made the Strong Athletic Woman design because we know that being able to speak your mind about who you are and how you want people to address you is both a human right but it is also a privilege. For those who are bale to make this strong statement, we support them. For others who are not yet able to make it publicly due to the need for safety, we want you to know that we support you and we will do what we can to make it possible for you to one day speak up. Welcome to the Strong Athletic Movement.
This is our newest design: it's our classic "Strong Athletic Woman" design etched out of a large black circle. Both the circle and the letters are designed to look "distressed". We're excited for this one!
Strong Athletic was established in 2014 after founder Nadia Kean decided to start selling a shirt that her friend Cristen Perks made her for Christmas 2013 that said "Strong Athletic Woman" on it. Cristen had been experimenting with graphic design and screen printing, and made Nadia the shirt as a gift. Nadia and Cristen were teammates on the Texas Rollergirls. Nadia was growing tired of hearing people who were part of derby refer to her and her teammates as "girls". While Nadia loves the word girl, she only thinks it should be used when it is appropriate, and she knows now, as she knew then, that referring to an adult female as a girl is inappropriate. She started to call her teammates a "fine group of strong, athletic women" as a way to protest the misuse of the word "girl," and to start to teach others how she wanted to be referred to. Cristen had heard Nadia use this expression many times and decided it needed to go onto a shirt. The day she made that decision, she essentially changed the course of Nadia's life, setting the stage for what would later become Strong Athletic. With Cristen's permission Nadia started to sell replicas of the first shirt, which was a simple grey t-shirt with the words centered in bold white ink on the front... and that's how Strong Athletic started. Many people know Nadia as Smarty Pants, which is her skate name. Nadia skated roller derby for 15 years before retiring from the sport in 2018 after the Roller Derby World Cup.
About the Production of this Strong Athletic Shirt
We know that there are a few companies that make awesome shirts with great slogans and sayings across the front. One thing we notice is that our shirts are usually about $5-$10 more expensive than the other shirts on the market. Ever wonder why there is such a price difference? There's a good chance that some of those companies are simply producing more shirts, faster, and so their overhead costs are lower. We can't speak for them and how they set their prices, but we can speak for ourselves. At Strong Athletic, we only use small-scale screen printers and the garments that we print on are always made in either W.A.R.P. Certified facilities or other facilities that meet CPSIA standards. We also pay all of our contract employees a pay rate that is in line with living wage standards. The majority of our shirts are associated with a non-profit and we donate a portion of profits (sometimes 100% of profits) to causes that hold dear. We believe that when products are cheap, someone is losing out on income. We don't want those people to be anyone involved in our supply chain or who work for Strong Athletic on a daily basis.
Every single Strong Athletic product is produced by a small scale screen printer or embroidery shop. Our snapback hats are embroidered by a small-scale, local embroidery shop called Vistago Print in Lago Vista Texas. The majority of our shirts are printed by Amanda in Austin, Texas who prints out of the Austin Screen Printer's Coop, a screen printing shop that is member owned and run in East Austin. When our shirts are not printed by Amanda they are printed by other small-scale screen printers such as Second Avenues Ink in Portland, Oregon or Leigh Valley Apparel Creations in Pennsylvania. The art for this design was created by Nadia Kean and is based on the original artwork created by Cristen Perks in 2013 for Strong Athletic founder Nadia Kean. The Strong Athletic logo was created by Angel Ortega in 2015, until that point our shirts had the Get Smarty Coaching logo on them.
People either buy Strong Athletic for theirselves or for their friends. Because our shirts, hats and fanny packs are so often sent to people as gifts, we decided that we wanted to make the experience of opening a Strong Athletic package feel like you're opening a gift. When your package from Strong Athletic arrives, you'll immediately notice that the kraft mailer is biodegradable and that it's covered in our removable signature "We Believe" sticker. Opening the package you will find your shirt, wrapped in a "You are so Strong" wrapper. In addition to whatever you purchased you'll also find a few of our signature logo stickers and a smaller "We Believe" sticker, plus a postcard with the origin story of our company hand written to the recipient of the package. If you're sending this as a gift to a friend, you can have us include a hand-written message and we'll sign your name for you. Just write out what you want written on the notes in the comment section of the cart.
We created our packaging so that every time a package shows up from Strong Athletic it feels like a gift is arriving in the mail. Our Kraft mailers are made in the USA and are 100% biodegradable and recyclable. Our signature “We Believe” art is printed on the outside of each mailer, so that when the person who is receiving the package opens it, they know just by reading the words on the envelope that they’re are receiving something special from a company that not only believes in sustainability, but also in humans in sports. We hope that you enjoy your package when it arrives.
We print this design on 3 Different Styles of Shirts
The words Strong Athletic Woman are "knocked out" of a black distressed circle. Knocking out in graphic design means that you take a shape- in this case a circle- and you etch the words from within. Both the letters and the circle have added artwork that make them appear distressed. The Strong Athletic logo is printed on both the front of the shirt and also the back of the shirt.
About the Bella Canvas Full Crop Top Racerback Tank that we print the Strong Athletic Woman Design On
The Bella Canvas Crop Top Racerback, style number 6682, is by far one of the most popular "cuts" or styles of shirts we've ever carried. Although not everyone is a fan of crop tops, what we know is... "Once you Crop, You Can't Stop!" This crop top is a bit "flowy" in design and it actually gets longer as the sizes change. For sizes Small, Medium and Large the length is more like a traditional crop. For sizes X-Large and 2X-Large the length is longer- more like a regular tank top. The armholes of this tank are made to look as if you cut them yourself with a pair of scissors and the hem of the armholes are not stitched, adding to the look. The armholes are slightly on the "dropped" side. If you don't know what that means for a tank to have "dropped armholes" or "drop arm holes" it simply means that the armholes are larger than the average tank, making it so if you're wearing a garment underneath- say a sports bra, a regular bra or a binder, there's a good likelihood that some of the fabric will be visible. For many people this is why they like the tank so much. The racerback cut means that the fabric on the back of the tank top cuts in toward the shoulder blades making more of an "x" on the back back, reviling a bit more of your back than a traditional tank top would.
About the Next Level Drop Arm Muscle Tank that we print the Strong Athletic Woman Design On
The Next Level Drop Arm Muscle Tank, style number 5013 is your classic muscle tank design. Next Level also calls this particular design their "festival muscle tank" but we thought that description is a bit vague so we've renamed it. This tank is soft and the fabric is stretchy and light weight. This tank has a neutral fit and is not "flowy" like the Bella Canvas 8803 tanks that we also carry. If you're wearing a garment under this tank, it will most likely be visible through the armholes as they are "dropped" what this means is simply that they are larger than the average tank's armholes. The length of this tank is also average and it goes down beyond the stomach ending around the thighs, so there's no crop top here! The neck line for this tank is best described as a scoop neck meets a crew neck.
About the Next Level Crop Top T-shirt that we print the Strong Athletic Woman Design On
The Next Level Crop Top T-shirt, style number 5080 is a great design. This cropped tee is designed to be airy and not clingy, with fabric that is soft and stretchy. If you like your tees to fit "snug" then order a size down. If you like them to be a bit "baggy" go up a size. The sleeves for this tee are a bit shorter, almost capped. The neck line for this tank is a crew neck and the hems on the bottom of the shirt is meant to look like you cut it shorter in to a crop yourself, meaning it's unfinished.
