AK Crucial: THE CROWDFUNDENING

HERE'S THE STORY:
 

Like all things angry and loud, the line of merch out of AK Crucial started with a boiling point. Something had to give. Messages that effectively countered misinformation, fascism, systemic racism, sexism, transphobia, homophobia, and all of the like needed to be sent out into the ether.

 

In July of 2021, AK started to build their own website. They had an idea: to create a line of singularly stylish, timeless apparel that made a statement. Thus, Trouble, INK was born.

 

Having over a decade of experience in design and a history in the apparel industry helped immensely. AK launched her first shirts, and with them, her first Fundraiser Shirt , which has raised over $4,000 for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women USA, to date.

 

When Governor Greg Abbott of Texas passed the sweeping abortion bill, effectively banning abortion in any case in the lone star state, AK's response was to release the Abort Abbott Merch , which was immediately shared over 1000 times and garnered over 20,000 responses from similarly-outraged citizens of the US. It has raised over $1,800 for Noah Project in Abiline Tx, to date.

 

 

 

 

The freedom this new self-made platform afforded, paired with their audience on Tiktok has unlocked the next idea.

 

Currently, AK Crucial relies on Teespring.com to order, fabricate, print, and ship all of their merch. This has led to complications, limitations, and many frustrations for both AK and their customers. It's time to go solo.

 

There is no reason this line of 43 designs should not be fabricated and shipped directly from AK. The benefits of taking on the process of opening their own print house are myriad, but mainly it comes down to this:

 

• Teespring and the like take a massive portion of the proceeds, and less is left over for the charitable work AK wants to accomplish.

 

• Relying on a massive company for orders and customer service is not ideal.

 

• With a sublimation printer, AK will be able to make a MUCH HIGHER QUALITY PRODUCT, at a lower cost, however slight, than the traditional screen printing technique.

 

• Having more capital opens up the possibilities of more kinds of merchandise items. The items that companies like teespring offer on service tiers that you have to request and pay for up front, with no guarantee of selling. Snapbacks, backpacks, duffel bags, patches, fluorescent inks, glow-in-the-dark inks, etc.

 

The hurdles to getting this off the ground are mainly financial, and the irony that AK will have to use Teespring in order to launch her own company properly are not lost on them.