Today we’d like to introduce you to True Floridian.
Hi True, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers.
True Floridian was founded by a group of friends that were connected through love for their one-of-a-kind state. We wanted to create a brand that was rooted in ‘true’ Floridian pride. A brand that was a movement first and an apparel company second.
Our plan was to launch in March of 2020. We had our website ready to go, had a big product order in, and… boom Covid. Something that we’re extremely proud of is that we didn’t let it kill our hope or our drive. It made us want it more. From March of 2020 until recently, we set our passion for providing apparel aside. We saw that people were struggling and wanted to help as much as possible. During that time we lead food drives, holiday toy drives, and beach clean-ups.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Growing a small business is never an easy thing to do. Looking back now and starting one right before Covid seems like it would have been impossible – but we took a challenge and made it an opportunity. We stayed true to our mission and helped the community. We put the mission before the vision.
True Floridian’s growth is driven by the sweat equity of its four partners. We are hitting the roads, manning our own pop-ups, managing our own online store, and personally connecting with the non-profits and other small Florida-based businesses we promote.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
We are a Florida brand that gives back 20% of our profits to Florida-based non-profits. The non-profits that we get to work with give directly back to the community and are some of the most ambitious, selfless, and hard-working people We’ve ever met. We specialize in creating opportunities for our community while offering an awesome product that consumers love.
One of the reasons that we’re so proud of what we’ve built is that we’ve stayed true to our mission. We’ve always been about giving back from day one. It was the only option. That’s the whole reason we started True Floridian and I think that is what sets us apart from the others. We’re not waiting to blow up and become a big clothing company to give back. We’re doing it from the start. We’re not just local, we’re true!
What are your plans for the future?
We’ve just released a Summer line, and have our first State Flag-inspired gear launching soon. We’ll be following that up with an expansion of our Do-Gooder hats with a half-a-dozen new non-profit partners.
Recently, we announced a partnership with Vita Nova. They are a non-profit out of West Palm Beach that does everything they can to help homeless youth between the ages of 18-25 succeed and be self-reliant. After talking with some of the incredible facilitators of this unique organization we decided that for the rest of the year our 20% revenue donation will be going to them.
We’re also working on a “Do Gooder hat” with them that we will continue to keep in our online store. All revenue from that product will go to Vita Nova. We’re working to help provide a Thanksgiving Dinner and we will be holding a holiday bike drive. We’ve connected with a local area supervisor Daniel Chiapperini of Tijuana Flats Tex-Max restaurants to help the youth find employment.
Pricing:
- We do our best to produce all our products in Florida, while also carefully watching our prices. We are super proud of our True $15 Tee. This is a line of shirts that launch in new colors each season and sell for a flat fee of $15.