Support Strong Island Clothing Co

ABOUT US: Hey guys. I’m Tristan, co-founder and designer at Strong Island Clothing Co, a Southsea based independent clothing brand that was established in 2008. We started with a single design sold to friends and have grown to become a well known business with customers and supporters across the UK and beyond. Our designs are hand screen printed to last, with a huge amount of customers still wearing our products for years after. We’ve always prided ourselves on great design, high quality and a real attention to detail.

WHAT’S THE BIG IDEA THEN: We have had 15 years of incredible support but we need some help to take Strong Island Clothing Co to the next level and also secure the future of our business. We’ve been on Marmion Road for 6 years now and our much loved shop would remain, but with the exciting addition of a new in-house print studio!

As you can imagine this isn’t simple or cheap, we will need a lot of new equipment. This unlocks the potential to give customers a unique and special product, designed and printed in-house. To take on this opportunity is really exciting and something that will add a whole new dimension to the brand. Looking forward, the long term aim is to employ and train new staff as we grow and develop.

Stock video example of the screen printing process shown below >

WHY ARE WE DOING THIS: This is a pivotal time for Strong Island Clothing Co with our aim to take more ownership on the production process and help secure the future of the business. Times are tough at the moment, our suppliers prices are increasing, our highest rising costs being t-shirts and the cost of printing them.

For a number of years we have absorbed these rising costs but there is only so much we can do with what we can control right now. By bringing t-shirt printing ‘in-house’ and take the design all the way to final product we can continue to make the very best quality clothing we can, manage our costs long term and also unlock the ability to have our current designs and sizes in stock for you when you need them. 

We can be much more flexible and adaptive with the ability to print on demand, with no minimum quantities required or long wait times. Fundamentally, the more we can achieve ourselves and the skills we develop as we grow, the brighter the future for Strong Island Clothing Co.

SO WHY USE CROWDFUNDER: 

We’ve always tried to be as inclusive and supportive as we can through the years, bringing together people and being part of a fantastic creative community. This is our first time crowdfunding and achieving a £15K target is a big deal in anyone’s world. Being able to achieve this Crowdfunder with the help and support of our family, friends, customers in Portsmouth and beyond would be awesome and very much in the manner of how Strong Island has always approached things! We also feel the unique rewards we can offer are a real way of paying back our deep appreciation for your help to take us to this next level.

HOW WILL YOUR MONEY BE SPENT: 

With your much appreciated help the plans of this project include remodelling the existing shop space, stock room and back of house. This would include new plumbing for a wash area, new lighting systems for dark room capabilities, custom fitted storage solutions for drying and lots of new creative space saving storage for all manner of screen printing equipment, which is extensive in itself including inks & tools etc. This then opens up all the new available space for the real deal equipment which includes a 4 colour screen print carousel, exposure light box, wash & dry units, flash dryer and large format transparency printer, just to name a few. We would also introduce a certain level of redecoration and new branding to support this exciting change.

Our set target is to cover the costs of the equipment described as well as installation. Anything that is raised beyond this means we can invest in stock, better equipment and look further at more sustainable products. For example a better flash dryer to heat cure our eco-friendly inks on to our tees means we can lower the amount of electricity we use, be more productive and it's better for the environment. Everything raised will go directly in to ensuring the longevity, sustainability and success of this new endeavour.

In areas we can’t achieve ourselves then all installation and remodelling of our shop space will be undertaken by trusted local businesses.

FEELING REWARDED: To achieve our goal we have set out an awesome range of reward packages. There is something for everyone here and all of them are exclusive to this Crowdfunder. PLUS ALL pledges will have your name/brand/business proudly added to a permanent ‘shout out’ display in the shop.

All rewards can be delivered or collected from the shop at no further pledge cost.

On your phone? Rewards can be found at the top of the page ↑↑↑

SOMETHING YOU WANT? If you have a pledge reward in mind that we don't have on offer drop us a message, and if we like it / can do it then it's all yours.

Exclusive New Rewards Added: With HUGE thanks to some of our incredible friends we have some very exclusive and unique rewards up for grabs, including:

*6 individual original artworks by long time Strong Island friend My Dog Sighs. Each one unique from the last, hand painted and exclusive to Strong Island. Each one is signed by the artist himself and limited to 6 of 6 so its VERY exclusive. You can pledge for 1 of these rewards for £250.

*Our wonderful shop neighbour on Marmion Road, the very talented Charlotte Cornelius has donated a stunning Sterling silver bubble link pendant (including chain size of your choice) worth £145 which you can full in full HERE. You can pledge for this reward for £125.

*The incredibly talented Ben AKA The Long Vacation has very kindly donated an exclusive hand carved skate deck featuring our collaborative design from 2021. This is something VERY special with hours and hours of work going in to creating a beautiful piece of art that's ready to hang and take pride of place on your wall. You can pledge for this reward for £200.

My Dog Sighs - 6 Original Artworks

Charlotte Cornelius - Sterling Silver Bubble Link Pendant

Ben Courtney / The Long Vacation - Hand Carved Skate Deck

Exclusive 'We All Support Strong Island Tee' / Men's or Women's available with large front print or small chest print.

A3 Heritage Art Print by Tristan Savage / Visual below. Frame not included.

Exclusive 20x24" Screen Print Frame / Visual showing exclusive reward.

Thanks as always for your continued support of Strong Island Clothing Co & Strong Island as a whole. You’re all awesome.

Tristan Savage / Co-Founder & Creative Director