The Strong Athletic Queer Crew Neck Baseball T-shirt- Gray Shirts
The idea for this Strong Athletic design is simple really, yet the back story behind it is not. The simple part is that Strong Athletic is an queer-owned company and we're a proud member of the LGBTQIA2S+ community. We wanted to contribute to our community in a way that mirrored our message, and so we created this shirt. We know how important visibility is for humans, and we know how often athletes have to hide aspects of who they are to blend in with their team. We know that being "out" and "visible" is a human right, but we also know that it's a privilege that not every human has for reasons that are often times out of their control. For those who can be, or who choose to be, or who want to be "visible", we've created the Strong Athletic Queer line. We know that when humans walk around in these shirts they help to "normalize" queerness. We know this is an important message for others to see and so we've created this design and this shirt. Some people will wear these to the gym, to their local Pride Parade and others will wear it within the safe walls of their home, or under another shirt and no one else will ever see it. And that is okay. Being part of the LGBTQIA2S+ community is a privilege. The members of the LGBT community are not always in agreement of what it is and means to be part of this community, yet we support one another in our persistence to live a normal and safe life.
The meaning behind the words "strong" and "athletic" are similar to that of the word "queer". They are used by so many people, yet they have a different meaning for every human, and that's how it should be. One person's concept of "athletic" could mean that they are on their country's national team and on their way to the olympics, while another person's concept of "athletic" could be that they are an essential part of a team's support crew, yet they don't play a sport. One person's concept of "strong" could be that they deal with adversity with integrity, while another person's concept of strong could be that they just hit their PR while doing bench presses. And still the same is true for the word "queer". Why do you wear these three words across your chest? If you'd ever like to share your personal "why" for why you wear Strong Athletic, we'd love to hear from you.
As part of our mission to support LGBT+ athletes in sports, we've pre-donated a portion of the profits from each of our Strong Athletic Queer shirts that we sale to Pull for Pride. What is a pre-donation? A pre-donation is when we make the donation in advance before we sell the shirt. This allows us to make an accurate and timely donation to the non-profit based on the number of the shirts that are created, rather than the number of shirts that are sold. To find out more about Pull for Pride, go to their website.
This Design is Printed on the Bella Canvas Crew Neck Baseball T-shirt, style number 3200 is basically your average 3/4 sleeve tee. Ever wonder why it's called a 3/4 or three-quarter sleeve shirt? The name of the shirt comes from the length of the sleeves which comes down to the mid-lower arm, around the forearm. This is the type of shirt that was traditionally worn by softball and baseball players, and so that it where it gets its name. The hem of the shirt goes down to the upper thigh area, so you won't find any crop tops with this shirt. The neck line is a traditional "crew neck" which means that it has a circular neck line and no collar. Crew necks are very common on most t-shirts. These t-shirts are preshrunk. This shirt was assembled at a WRAP facility.
The fabric for the Strong Athletic Queer Crew Neck Baseball Shirt is a light gray with the sleeves in a contrasting deep gray. The shirt has the words Strong Athletic Queer and the Strong Athletic logo printed on the front of the shirt in deep gray ink. The Strong Athletic logo is also printed on the back of the shirt in deep gray ink.
Production Process
This shirt was printed by hand by a small, scale locally owned screen printing shop in the United States. Most likely, it was printed by Amanda who is an independent artist and screen printer who prints out of the Austin Screen Printing Coop in East Austin, Texas. When Amanda is not working on her art or doing screen printing for local Austin businesses, you can find her at her day job, which is as an art teacher or playing with her cute cats. The Strong Athletic logo was created by Angel Ortega who is the mastermind behind Garzig Design, located in South Austin, Texas. Angel not only designs beautiful logos, but she also has a shop where you can find all of our designs on t-shirts, candles, fanny packs and stickers. This shirt is based on the original Strong Athletic shirt, which was created by Cristen Perks in November of 2013 for Strong Athletic founder Nadia Kean.
