Brixlee and Co., a graphic T-shirt brand based in San Diego, was created by a group of wine-loving friends early this year. We spoke with Lauren Castro, one of the co-creators, about the origins of the fledgling brand.

Q: Why did you start Brixlee and Co.?

Lauren Castro: Brixlee and Co. was started almost by accident. The medical spa we all work at had a St. Patrick’s Day event this year, so we came up with a fun design and had it printed on a T-shirt for all of us to wear that evening. The response we got from our clients was so great and the design process was fun, so we decided to take it one step further. Over the next couple of days, we came up with some new designs and researched T-shirt Companies, printers, etc. We then had four new designs printed mainly for us to enjoy wearing. Our friends and families started requesting to purchase our T-shirts. From there, Brixlee and Co. was born, and we’ve been enjoying this ride ever since.

Q: How would you describe your design aesthetic?

LC: We like our products to be on trend and relevant; however, we don’t want to sacrifice comfort for style.

Q: Where are your products available?

LC: Our shirts are available online at our website, brixleeandco.com, but we’ve also had great success selling our tees at local events in San Diego. We love going out into our community and sharing our product at trunk shows, festivals and even local farmers markets.

Q. How are your shirts printed?

LC: All of our printing is outsourced to a local screen printer. We love supporting small businesses, and it also allow us to be more hands-on and ensure the quality is up to our standards. Our motto is: “If we won’t wear it, we won’t sell it.”

Q: What are some of the challenges of running a T-shirt business?

LC: In addition to running a T-shirt business, we all work full-time jobs, so time management is definitely a challenge. Sometimes, it’s hard after working a 40-hour week to be motivated to continue working after “clocking out” for the day. But honestly, we love what we do, and to us, it doesn’t feel like work.

Q: What do you like best about it?

LC: We love making T-shirts that we enjoy wearing. The ability to have a creative outlet and see an idea come to life on a product we love is absolutely amazing. None of us ever thought this would be our path, but it has been beyond thrilling watching this all happen. Having other people out there as excited about our shirts as we are is definitely the icing on the cake!