Pike Road Southern – Grand Opening Sale!

Can you believe it’s already JULY!? Feels like I *just* started remembering to write “2016” on my checks and here the year is already half over!! :-O

Kevin and I have been working hard to build our new online shop this summer (especially now that Sonny will *probably* be home in the next 4-5 weeks!), and we are sooooo excited to announce that we are officially open for our first ever Pike Road Southern grand opening/pre-order sale today through Tuesday night!

Along with the new name, we got a snazzy new logo…

Isn’t it cute!? 😀 Fellow Alabamian Hayley England whipped it for us, and I highly recommend her if you’re looking for a great graphic designer! You can find her at Hayley Assell England on Facebook and @HayleyKEngland on Instagram.

We decided to name our biz Pike Road Southern because it’s where we live, it’s who we are, and when it comes to T-shirts,  it’s what we wear!

We’re still going to create shirt designs that fall under our four favorite categories: fun, food, family, faith and farm- but our designs will be on Bella Canvas shirts from now on. They’re just as soft as our previous shirts, but they offer more sizes, colors and cuts- and we love their eco-conscious manufacturing. They’ve been manufacturing responsibly in Los Angeles and internationally since day one, and they have a gold accreditation from W.R.A.P.- the organization who certifies factories that are 100% sweatshop-free and are operating safely, lawfully, humanely and ethically. We also liked that Bella Canvas harvests all their cotton right here in the U.S.A, and that their sewing and cutting floor in L.A. is solar-powered and creates almost no landfill. Everything they can’t turn into a t-shirt is either recycled or repurposed.

Here’s a link to a video if you’re interested in learning more about Bella Canvas: Responsible Tees

We’re still only able to do pre-order t-shirt sales right now, but we are looking forward to keeping inventory in stock for immediate shipment in the very near future. (We’re looking forward to expanding our product line from apparel to handmade jewelry and home goods eventually, too!)

We’re also on the hunt for an workshop space here in Pike Road where we can keep our equipment and supplies, and do our own printing. We haven’t found anything that will work just yet, but we’re hopeful that we’ll find something soon. Until then, we’ll continue to have a local print shop print our shirts, and we’ll continue to use our sunroom for storage, our bedroom as a design studio, and our dining room as our folding, packaging, shipping station. 😉

Y’all, Kevin and I are SO excited about this adventure!!

Who knew that a “Don’t Quit Your Daydream” t-shirt we created on a whim two years ago would lead to such a shared passion for apparel design AND create so many opportunities to come alongside other adoptive families with fun folks all over the globe!

We still have a lot to learn about running an online business, and graphic design, and screenprinting- but it’s work that also feels like “play”, so I guess we’re on the right track! 😀 And if I’m honest, it really feels like a blessing to feel so fired up about this because we’ve both really struggled with figuring out what we want to be “when we grow up” (maybe “professional purpose” is a better way to word that?), but as we works together building this brand, it really feels like something is starting to click. #Whew! #LateBloomers

Anywho- we’re so appreciative of the encouraging comments many of you have left us in the here and via social media over the past couple of years as we hosted our Blog Threads sales, and we’d love to hear what you think of the new designs if you feel like swinging by the new website: PikeRoadSouthern.com.

Kevin put it together (it’s still a work in progress as he learns more about Shopify!), and we couldn’t have done it without our friends Rachel and Aubrie.

Rachel hand-lettered the new “It is well with my Soul” design…

…and is always there to help me perfect my designs when I need an extra, super-talented set of eyeballs. 🙂

That’s Grant Dukes in the photo, by the way. He lives here in Pike Road too. What a cutie, huh? 😀 We recruited him after meeting him at an Alabama Sweet Tea Company event. Poor thing got eaten up by red bugs during our photoshoot last month (we blame the hay bales!), but boy did he do a great job on his first-ever modeling gig!

And while we’re on the subject of photography, my bestie/neighbor Aubrie took all the photographs that you’ll see on our website and social media channels. Here are a few of my favorites. Grace and Chloe in the hay loft…

Rivers by the fence…

…and Chloe, Grace and Grant sippin’ on sweet tea and strummin’ a tune!

We took the photos at Grant’s farm, which has been in his family for decades, and used to belong to his Grandma. What a treat to be able to shoot in such an awesome location!

Last but not least, here are a few pics of some of the designs we’re offering during this month’s 5-day pre-order sale:

Well, if you’ve made it this far down the post- thank you for allowing me to share a little bit about what we’ve been working on over here! Who knows where all these trials and errors will lead. We’ll just give it a whirl, and keep the Main Thing the main thing, and *hopefully* steer clear of anymore red bugs along the way! 😉

PS- We’re having a 10% off Grand Opening sale if you any of those shirts are calling your name! XO