About melsenink:

Mission | About Melsen | The First T-shirt

MISSION

In short, this is what we do:

• Design T-shirts that increase awareness of social justice and environmental justice issues, while supporting non-profit organizations dedicated to working on those issues
• Design custom apparel for individuals or organizations on a contract basis

Please check out the Order page to browse our t-shirts for sale, or the Portfolio page to see some of Melsen's original designs (posters, stickers, and t-shirts).

We are dedicated to supporting organizations...

• who are doing crucial and effective work within their communities
• who recognize that they and every person they serve/collaborate with encompasses multiple identities (and therefore may grapple with multiple systems of oppression in their daily lives)
• who strive to address each person's full needs, not just their needs as specifically related to the organization's purpose

Although we are starting out locally in the Boston area, our goal is to include organizations from many different locations in the United States, so that you may support organizations with your purchases that are doing work in the communities where you live.

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ABOUT MELSEN

Melsen is an artist who cares deeply about social and environmental justice. Much of his awareness of systems of oppression began with his own experience as a queer and transgender person. Melsen is strongly committed to breaking down his own prejudices (such as learned racism, classism, ablism, sexism, and transphobia), as well as working with and supporting individuals and organizations tackling these issues on a broader, institutional level. He also loves to create art, and he's very excited to use Melsenink as a medium through which he can support organizations doing amazing work!

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THE FIRST T-SHIRT

Melsen first had the idea for a superhero trans symbol shirt back in 2004, when he was at Oberlin College. The Transgender Advocacy Group (TAG) wanted to sell pride T-shirts for Trans Awareness Week. He didn't know how to screen-print at that point, nor did the group have the funds to pay for someone else to print them, so he and a couple friends and spent hours with sponges, acrylic paint, and stencils! This is a picture of one of those first T-shirts.

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