If you can't find it, make it yourself, and make it right: NerdyKeppie's philosophy and business model grew out of one family's need for representation. When Spider Perry's daughter Cat wanted a sturdy, cute transgender Pride yarmulke, the mother/daughter pair scoured the internet and came up dry. Spider took matters into their own hands - literally - and developed the first of NerdyKeppie's products.

In the seven years since they sold their first yarmulke, NerdyKeppie has expanded. Now co-owned by Spider & one of his partners, Emet, their shop now centers around two embroidery machines and an industrial sewing machine, and their offerings have grown to over a thousand items: patches, t-shirts, footwear and activewear. Many of those items are made in their home-based studio in Portland, Oregon - and what they can't physically produce is outsourced to a network of manufacturers.