Why I made the tees & the story behind the shirts.

I didn't set out to make a clothing line.

Honestly, that sentence still sounds crazy to me. I'm a person who makes notepads and thinks a lot about what gets written on them. Apparel was not the plan. And yet. Here we are.I kept running into moments where I needed a sentence. Not a journal entry. Not a long reflection. Just one sentence that told me where I stood.

That's what these shirts are.

Each one started as a line I said to myself first. And I think that's worth explaining, because I don't want them to read as merch. I want them to read the way they were meant, as small, wearable reminders for anyone who's ever needed permission to live a little differently.

"on my own time."

This one came from a very specific feeling. The feeling of being behind on someone else's schedule without ever agreeing to it. The feeling of watching other people hit milestones and then realizing I was measuring myself against a timeline I never even chose.

I spent a long time living like there was a clock running somewhere that I couldn't see but was definitely losing against. Career milestones, life decisions, what I was supposed to have figured out by now. And the thing about that clock is that it's invisible. Nobody hands it to you. You just absorb it, and then one day you're anxious and you don't even know why. Or you do know why, but explaining it out loud sounds insane, so you just say you're tired.

"On my own time." was the answer to that. Not a rebellious one. Not a loud one. Just a quiet decision to stop measuring my progress against a timeline I didn't write.

It's one of the first shirts I made because it was the first thing I needed to say.

"doing less, on purpose."

This one I want to be careful about, because it's easy to read it as slow living. For me, it's not.

I'm not interested in doing less because less is inherently better. I'm interested in doing less because most of us are doing a lot of things we never consciously chose. We added them one by one, they became default, and now they feel required. "Doing less, on purpose." is about the "on purpose" part. Choosing what stays. Choosing what goes. Not shrinking, just editing.

There's a version of doing less that's still exhausting, because it's still reactive. You're just doing fewer things you didn't choose. What I was after was something different. A life where what stays, stays because I decided it should. Where what goes, goes because I let it go. Not because I ran out of energy for it.

That's the edit. Not doing less for the sake of it. Doing less so that what's left actually means something.

This shirt is for the person who wants to edit their life without apologizing for it.

"no rush today."

It's not "no rush ever." It's just today. One day where you let things take the time they take. One day where you don't apologize for not moving at someone else's pace. One morning where you drink your coffee without already being three tasks ahead in your head.

I made this one because I needed something that didn't ask too much of me. Some days the big reframe is too heavy. Or you've already had three conversations before 9am and that's genuinely enough. You don't need to rethink your entire relationship with productivity. You just need to get through today without completely overthinking it.

No rush today. That's the whole thing.

"plans can wait."

This one is for the moment when something more important shows up.

Not irresponsible. Not careless. Just honest about what actually matters right now. Because sometimes the most intentional thing you can do is put the list down and be present. 

"create more open days."

This was the beginning. Before the tees, before the notepads, this was the phrase that became the foundation of everything. An open day isn't a day off. It's a day that feels like yours. One where you're present in it, not just moving through it.

I put it on a tee and the hoodie because it was the original ask. Make more days that feel like open days. Everything else followed from there.

***

The reason these exist as physical objects matters to me. The notepad stays on your desk. It holds your intentions for the day, your one thing, your notes to yourself. But the shirt comes with you. It goes to work, to school pickup, to the coffee shop where you're trying to figure out your next chapter.

There's something about wearing a sentence that makes it a little more yours. You're not just thinking about it. You're carrying it.

That's what I wanted to make. Sentences worth carrying.