Summer gave us long days, warm nights, and a steady stream of rad clients with the very best ideas. We wanted to share a few of our favorites. These are the projects that felt good and looked even better. For us, it’s all about the creatives who come, ready to lay their ideas on the press, and see what happens next. This is their story.
Leif J Lee “WNBGAY” Hats
The ask: When Leif brought WNBGAY to the studio, we were proud to support their work. Authentic, poignant, timely: This was work rooted in lived experience. It’s the stuff of studio dreams. The drop itself was small, intentionally so, but the message was anything but. Every stitch reflected Leif’s perspective as a queer athlete, making the project about more than just apparel.
The inspiration: The story behind WNBGAY was what stayed with us most. Leif had been sitting with the phrase since the early 90s, an inside joke passed between teammates. “This drop didn't come from a design brainstorm—it came from crying in the locker room with the only other queer player on my high school team, watching tunnel fit videos, texting friends about player drama, thinking about what it means to belong to something in a system that wasn't built for you.”
Leif spent almost a year teasing the phrase out to find the right design solution, landing on something simple and uncomplicated. “This isn’t mine like I invented it—it’s more like I heard it again, resonated and made a place for it to live,” they explained.
They describe WNBGAY as a soft flag, a way to say, “I'm here. I play. I watch. You can sit with me.” If anything, the designs are meant to make a home for the community in the bleachers. And with Portland Fire on its way into town, the timing couldn’t be more perfect.
The momentum: When Leif announced the WNBGAY hats, demand surged, rapid and wild. What began as a small, intimate drop needed to scale quickly without losing the personal touch and intentional craftsmanship that made Leif’s work so powerful in the first place.
Our perspective: Being part of Leif’s project meant more than ink, thread, or production runs. We needed to match a powerful message with the right blanks and production, so that Leif could send it out with pride to everyone who wanted it. And a lot of people wanted it. At Rendered, that meant scaling fast while the craft stayed steady, maintaining quality control, coordinating reorders for new drops, and making sure every stitch threaded just right.
What we made: A dialed-in hat that holds its shape, wears easy, and takes decoration cleanly: crisp, readable, and built for repeat runs. Leif’s first drop shipped with handmade tags and handwritten notes. That’s our kind of maker.
While on Earth Store Merch
A friendly introduction: Our pals at Old Friend connected us with Jess from While on Earth (WOE) for her latest merch drop. You might know Old Friend as the branding duo behind beloved Portland spots like Company Wine Bar, Collector Bar, and Montelupo Italian Market. They’re pros at weaving nostalgia and whimsy into their brand work and apparel designs. Jess tapped them to bring that same energy to a couple limited release tees for WOE.
Meeting Jess: Jess stopped by the studio to meet the team and ask some questions about the process. She’s got a generous, grounded presence, and it was clear right away that WOE is more than a shop.
Why While On Earth: Part studio, part maker’s market, part creative hub, WOE is one of the coolest spots in Portland. They host workshops, classes, and serve as an essential resource for Portland’s art community. The team was stoked to learn more about what Jess is building, and we were excited to get to be even a small part of it. Even better: their guiding ethos comes from a Vonnegut line about “farting around,” which told us all we needed to know. This was a collaboration we wanted in on.
What we made: Old Friend designed two playful graphics, and Jess landed on blanks with real personality:
AS Colour 5086 Heavy Faded Minus
Both are sturdy, everyday shirts with the right weight and character.
Why we’re proud: The designs feel like future favorites: easy to style, hard to take off, and so dang fun.
Our water-based inkscreated a soft, breathable print that ages well and picks up that perfect lived-in look. Designed by Old Friend, made for While on Earth, and printed with care in our Portland studio.
Travel Portland “Moss Portland” Print
The ask: Travel Portland wanted full-color, high-quality prints for a new campaign.
We (didn’t) get the call: Before we’d even met their team, an order from Travel Portland came through our site. No calls. No emails. Just trust. Being on the receiving end of that felt big, and it pushed us to deliver something that’d set the tone for this project and whatever came next.
Portland bound: Travel Portland is a nonprofit tourism organization for the city. They’re the ones telling Portland’s story to the world, highlighting our neighborhoods, food, culture, makers–all the things that Portland is and does. Their work supports local businesses, welcomes visitors, and shows our city off to the whole world. If anyone knows Portland, it’s these guys, so their trust meant even more.
A growing project: We created a super-soft, saturated print using our water-based Japanese inks. After finishing the first run, we connected with a few members of their team and learned a bit more about the project. Their first order was intended for internal use and conference giveaways, but the result landed so well on tees that the collection grew to tote bags and hats. Now they’re sampling items for a possible launch at their downtown visitor center shop.
What felt good: When the art sings, the method should disappear. Here, that meant a super-soft, saturated print with smooth blends, clean edges, and mossy greens that landed just the way they were designed. It looked great on tees and translated seamlessly to tote bags and hats.
What ties it all together: Good blanks. Precision decoration. Maker-to-maker collaboration. For Travel Portland, that meant merch that felt intentional, durable, and aligned with the city they represent.
Your turn: Let’s make something worth wearing. If you’ve got an idea, we’ve got a press ready. Start a project and we’ll walk you through blanks, ink, and decoration options. At Rendered, we keep it simple. We’re a solid team making good merch that gets worn.
