I'm Tessa and I'm a graphic designer and I run Krmbal, an eco-conscious, indie apparel brand. I've worked most of my career in creating graphics for screen printed and embroidered apparel, working my way up through the industry, from a production artist job at a collegiate apparel company to an assistant manager position with a Fortune 500 corporation to an art director job. I started Krmbal as a hobby during while I was working my corporate job, but after I was laid off I decided to jump into running Krmbal and doing contract graphic design full-time.
I’d always wanted to take what I’ve learned and what I love about my career working in the apparel industry and print my own shirts for a brand dedicated to doing things the right way. Since I worked my way up from the bottom and was lucky enough to work at lots of great places, I got to learn from some amazing designers and outstanding screenprinters. I am admittedly an apparel nerd and I take every opportunity I have to learn about the industry. In doing so, I also learned about the things that go on behind the scenes, stuff I wasn’t very proud that I was a part of. I wanted to feel proud of what I was putting out into the world for people to wear. I wanted to take back my t-shirt!
I wanted another option, a BETTER option. So I made one. I researched the best option for an eco-friendly t-shirt choosing 100% organic cotton and create designs that I want to wear. I've currently got two different sorts of styles, Krmbal Classics, which are dedicated to an indie, natural and inspirational sort of vibe and KGeek, where the graphics fit with the part of me that's a bit nerdy :)
I also give back and a portion of each sale goes toward making Kiva loans to help other entrepreneurs both in the US and around the world build their businesses. I try to focus on loaning to people who want to make their businesses more eco-friendly so that Krmbal's green impact can spread even further because I'm a big believer in taking small steps in our daily lives to create change. So far, I've loaned $350 through sales, re-loaning from loans that have been paid back and a few free loans I've gotten from Kiva.
Here are a few photos of our most popular designs:
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