Welcome to The Shallow Reef Studio! We are a Hawaii based brand inspired by wave sliding and simple island living. We are dedicated to creating original, hand printed tees to accompany you on all your adventures.

No tee leaves the studio without the extra love and care of a handmade item. It’s one of the things we love about being a small business: our products stay true to our values and reflect our simple island lifestyle.

We focus on keeping things simple because we believe less is more, in design and in life. The Shallow Reef Studio is for the people who need nature, the ocean, and not much else to have a good time. The world is a playground and adventure is out there!

An important part about living an active lifestyle is being aware of the environment we play in. Mother nature needs our help in maintaining a low environmental impact as a business.

Everything we buy, including our clothes, has an environmental impact. From growing the cotton, to creating the fibers, weaving the fabric, cutting and sewing the garment, shipping across the world, to washing and drying the garment in your home, the entire life cycle of our clothes uses more energy, water, and human labor than one might think. Overall, clothing production accounts for 10% of global emissions, and the fashion industry is the second largest polluter after oil.

Our t-shirts are sourced from Alternative Apparel, whose factories all adhere to Fair Labor Association guidelines and workplace code of conduct. We are phasing out the last of our non-organic cotton styles. In the studio, we use water-based inks as opposed to standard plastic-based plastisol inks. We use natural indigo dye instead of chemical dyes. We are conscious of limiting our water, ink, and plastic use and expose our screens using sunlight. Our mailers are 100% recycled, reusable and recyclable.

This may sound good but does not erase our environmental footprint from shipping and ink, emulsion, water, and electricity use. At the end of each year, we will donate to a carbon sequestering organization in order to offset the impact of each t-shirt that enters and leaves our studio.

The most sustainable option is to wear what you have, repair, and buy second hand. If you love your Shallow Reef shirt, and any other clothing, we recommend washing on a delicate cycle, and hang-drying for a longer lasting shirt and a lower energy footprint.

I’m Moona Whyte and I’m the founder of The Shallow Reef Studio. Being a kitesurfer, surfer, and lover of the outdoors, I wanted the brand to not only celebrate the great ocean playground we enjoy in Hawai’i, but also take a step towards protecting it. It’s the least we can do to donate 1% of our sales to aid in ocean conservation. Individual action can also make a huge difference so tread lightly on your adventures – carry a reusable water bottle, use reef friendly sunscreen, eat less meat, respect and support local communities, and understand your human impact on our beautiful natural environment.