Nobody has claimed the apparel slot.

bigfrog.com/raleigh-north · @bigfrograleigh · 616 Instagram

The strongest single find in this research. Co-founders Keat and Kyle Perkins hold NGLCC certification as an LGBT Business Enterprise, the national body's exclusive credential, which requires majority LGBT ownership, documentation and a site visit. Kyle Perkins, on the record: "As store owners, we are honored to embody a vital aspect of the LGBT spectrum."

• Ownership: bisexual-owned. NGLCC LGBTBE certificate #24776, first certified 2023, re-certification announced by the business in June 2026.
• The link: printed the brand-launch polos and shirts for Harmony, the NC LGBT+ Allied Chamber, and sponsored its Pride Life Summit. Harmony was a formal NC Courage and NCFC Pride partner in 2022.
• Capability: screen print, DTG, DTF, embroidery, vinyl, and dye sublimation, which is the process team kit actually needs. No minimums, no setup fees, 24-hour turnaround. Builds branded fundraising storefronts, so a capsule can run with zero inventory risk.
• Two things to check: it is a franchise of a national brand, so this is the production answer and the certification rather than an indie label story. And they present as DTG-first, so confirm screen-print capacity for a retail-scale run before committing.

designedbyrusty.com · @monkeyfansraleighofficial · 676 Instagram

The authentic local queer voice the Triangle otherwise lacks, and the warmest introduction available. Their own site: "Designed by Rusty is a queer-owned Southern brand rooted in bold ideas, big feelings, and saying the quiet part out loud." Tees, hats, socks and drinkware, printed in Raleigh across 155 products.

• Ownership: queer-owned, in their own words on their own site. Founder Rusty Sutton is publicly out; his husband Drew Temple has been his partner 30+ years. Sutton worked in the printing industry from 2001 to 2013.
• The link, and it is the best one in this report: Sutton sits on the board of directors of Harmony, the NC LGBT+ Allied Chamber, which was a formal NC Courage and NCFC Pride partner in 2022. He is also an Out! Raleigh Pride 2026 vendor, booth S22.
• He runs two queer maker markets: "Shopping with the Gays" at Flex Raleigh, and the 5th annual Hartwell Pride Market, which benefits the LGBT Center of Raleigh. One relationship, three doors.
• Wholesale is already open: he launched on Faire on July 20, 2026, so there is a live trade channel and no new plumbing to build. Production is in-house with a named partner.
• Reach beyond the feed: stocked at Deco Raleigh and at Rooted & Branch in RDU Terminal 2.
• One naming caution: his previous retail store, The Green Monkey, closed in March 2025 after 12 years and he calls himself its former owner. Name the current businesses, not that one.

6739 Falls of Neuse Rd, Raleigh · 919-670-1400 · owner Allan Geller

A second LGBTQ+-owned printer within twenty minutes of the stadium, on the same road as Big Frog. Worth a call, but call before you count on it.

• Check this first: their domain has lapsed. printperfectplus.com now resolves to a registrar parking page, and the only logo that survives anywhere is an archived copy. A lapsed domain is not proof a business has closed, since plenty run on a phone and a Facebook page, but after the Ruby Deluxe episode we are not putting an unverified trading status in front of you quietly. Their North Raleigh Chamber listing is still up with a working number.
• Ownership: flagged LGBTQ-owned in the LGBTQ Center of Durham's business directory, which carries an explicit per-business ownership field rather than lumping owners and allies together. That distinction is what makes this listing usable as evidence.
• Thin file: capabilities, minimums, turnaround and capacity all unverified. One phone call settles the trading question and all four of those at once.

themamaednaproject.com · @themamaednaproject · 1,122 Instagram

The closest business on this list to the pitch, by a wide margin, and the only one that shares the stadium's zip code. A nonprofit thrift shop whose proceeds fund food assistance and cancer support across the Triangle.

• Ownership: LGBTQ+-owned. Founder Drew Klutz describes his life partner Tim McLamb in a published interview; the shop is also indexed in Yelp's LGBTQ-owned listings for Raleigh. We are repeating his own public description, not applying a label he has not used.
• Who they support: documented food drives benefiting LGBT centers in Raleigh and Durham, a Pride clothing donation drive, and pop-up breakfast and food-pantry events for unsheltered neighbors in Cary.
• Track record: the nonprofit is roughly a decade old; the shop opened April 2024 after Klutz left a 42-year retail career, including 15 years in Macy's menswear.
• Scope: resale only, no production. This is a match-day donation drive, a Pride drop-off point or a vintage pop-up partner.

shopatrumors.com · @rumors.preloved · 38.2K Instagram

By far the largest local audience in this report, roughly thirty times the next Triangle business. Buy-sell-trade curated secondhand across three stores, with tees and dresses in the $12 to $50 range.

• Ownership: listed in Discover Durham's official LGBTQIA-owned and operated directory, updated April 2026, which names Ajani Chinfloo as manager and Casey Longyear as co-owner. Their own bio says "women owned small business."
• Recognition: INDY Week Best of the Triangle 2025 winner for Best Clothing Consignment, Durham County and overall.
• History: founded in Richmond in 2007 by two 22-year-olds with no parental funding and no bank loans. Carrboro opened 2013, Durham is the third store.
• The mechanic that fits: they already run a local-vendor and consignment program, so a Courage vintage or upcycled capsule has somewhere to live.

smallestdadstudio.com · @smallestdadstudio · 5,290 Instagram

The only verifiable queer-owned apparel brand in the Triangle. Bailey Kennedy hand screen-prints graphic tees at $25 and crops and raglans at $30, including an explicitly sapphic line and North Carolina designs.

• Ownership: queer-owned, self-declared. Instagram bio reads "Cool, colorful & queer-owned"; product copy reads "screen printed by an NC native & queer person."
• Capability: in-house, hand screen printed, print-to-order, one-week processing. Also teaches screen printing classes.
• Distribution: stocked at Emote in Asheville and Gold Hand Gallery in Chapel Hill.
• The open question: no published wholesale minimums and one pair of hands. Capacity for a stadium run has to be asked directly.

queercomestrouble.etsy.com · @queercomestrouble · 396 Instagram

Sunny Spillane holds an apparel design degree and builds one-of-a-kind garments from thrifted and vintage material using improvisational patchwork. The obvious use is an upcycling capsule: retired Courage kit reconstructed into a handful of one-off pieces for a Pride match auction.

• Ownership: queer-owned, confirmed twice. The Daily Tar Heel quotes Spillane in January 2026: "As a queer person, that process of both recycling things and the practice of improvisational patchwork speaks to the creativity of queerness." The Plant in Pittsboro calls them "a queer textile artist and fashion designer."
• Credentials: showed at Hempsmith's 5th Annual Slow Fashion Runway, October 2025. Regular vendor at the Rainbow Exchange market in Carrboro.
• Two things to check: visible posts stop in 2025, so confirm they are taking commissions. Press uses they/them, their bio uses she/her. Ask before publishing pronouns.
• Scope: one-of-one only. A designer and a story, never a supplier.

trashyqweenz.com · @trashyqweenz · 3.5M TikTok · @gregory_mason · 1.8M Instagram

The largest reach available anywhere in this research, and it belongs to someone an hour from the stadium who already founded his town's Pride. Greg Mason is on the club's existing influencer roster; this is the merch half of the same relationship.

• Ownership: gay-owned. Married husband team Gregory and Alexander Mason, named on their own About page and in TODAY's coverage.
• Who they support: they co-founded Wilson Pride NC Inc., a 501(c)(3), which gives a capsule a ready-made beneficiary with a real local story. Wilson Pride's next festival falls in early June 2027, inside the season.
• Apparel is real, not a gift-shop afterthought: screen-printed Comfort Colors heavyweight tees at $29.99, fleece hoodies at $49.99, embroidered hats at $26.99.
• Commercial path exists: represented by Viral Nation Talent, so this prices as a creator deal rather than a supply contract. Press includes TODAY, People, the News & Observer and PBS NC.
• Scope: he designs and sells, he does not manufacture, and who decorates his shirts is not published anywhere. Worth one call: his printer may itself be a useful lead.

up4drea.com · X @up4drea2 · 1,970 followers

The only verified LGBTQ+-owned apparel business anywhere in the eastern and southern corridor, across eleven counties. Curated vintage built around a 29-foot wall of t-shirts. Their own words: "We are lesbian owned and operated by 3 LOCAL women."

• Ownership: lesbian-owned, self-declared, by three local women. Roughly four to five years operating, relocated from Spring Lake in early 2025.
• The flag: on August 3, 2026 they posted a moving sale at 50% off almost the whole store. Whether that is a relocation or a wind-down is not publicly determinable. Do not build anything on this without a phone call first.
• Scope: resale and pop-up partner, never a producer.

limatusbespokeraleigh.com

Fully bespoke suiting from $999, and something no other business in this research offers: a dedicated gender-affirming clothing service built for transgender, non-binary and gender non-conforming clients, with garments constructed to accommodate binders and prosthetics and no binary sizing charts.

• Ownership is close to confirmed, but ask anyway. They are self-identified as LGBTQ-owned on the Downtown Raleigh Alliance Pride guide, which lists only businesses that voluntarily identify that way, and two other third-party sources agree. There is still no statement on their own site, and the parent company's founder makes no public claim, so the credential may attach to the Raleigh partnership rather than the brand. Ask managing partner Steven Gonzales, 919-948-9496.
• The fit: wrong for volume merch, right for a high-visibility gesture. Bespoke tailoring for a player, coach or front-office moment, or a gender-affirming tailoring activation at a Pride match.
• Terms: patterns drafted in-house from 20+ measurements, four to six weeks, appointment only. Raleigh store opened August 2023.

chelseaamato.com

The closest thing to a proven deliverable in North Carolina. Amato designed the Carolina Hurricanes' first-ever Pride jersey in 2024, with proceeds going to the LGBTQ Center of Durham. The Canes' VP of Marketing framed the choice in exactly the terms the Courage would use: "It was important that we partnered with a local artist that could authentically tell their story as a member of the community."

• Identity: queer, stated repeatedly in national press. To NHL.com: "The opportunity to meld queerness and sports sounded right up my alley. I focused on plants that are representative of myself and the queer community." Uses they/them in press.
• Community work: freelances for the LGBTQ Center of Durham and has designed for its Southern Queer Survivor Network, which serves all 100 North Carolina counties.
• Background: NC State graphic design graduate, previously at MoMA, the New Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Day job is graphic designer at Fullsteam Brewery in Durham. Portfolio includes Durham Queer Kickball.
• Check first: confirm current commission availability.

re-website.com

Not a cold pitch. A co-branded "Football Loves You" NC Courage tee is on sale right now as part of the 2026 Pride line. The 2027 upgrade is turning a league-level product into something genuinely rooted in the Triangle.

• Ownership: queer-founded and queer-led. Founded 2019 by USWNT champions Christen Press, Tobin Heath, Megan Rapinoe and Meghan Klingenberg. Heath and Rapinoe are both publicly out.
• Giving record: earlier collaborations sent 10% of proceeds to the Downtown Women's Center and 50% to the NWSL Players Association.
• The mechanic: initial inventory, then made-to-order with a four to five week ship window. A proven capsule model that limits the club's inventory exposure.
• North Carolina hook: Tobin Heath won three NCAA championships at UNC.

Gabriel Eng-Goetz and Michael Brannon · opening summer 2026, next to Surf Club and DSSOLVR

The most interesting thing to happen to Triangle apparel this year, and the timing is unusual. Eng-Goetz founded Runaway, the Durham streetwear label that designed the Durham Bulls' actual on-field uniforms for three seasons, described at the time as the first Bulls uniform created by a company outside the sports industry. Runaway closed in 2019. He is reopening now.

• The tie to this club: a Runaway NC Courage tee existed around 2018 and was photographed on Courage players. The terms and the channel could not be verified, but the relationship is not hypothetical.
• What the new studio is: a hybrid retail store with the production floor visible from the shop, doing screen printing, sewing and embroidery in-house, and explicitly taking custom merchandise work for clients. His partner Michael Brannon ran apparel production for Runaway.
• The precedent they already set: the Bulls auctioned the Runaway jerseys and sent proceeds to the Durham Bulls Youth Athletic League, with a beer tie-in and a launch party. That is the shape of a Pride kit night, already tested in this market.
• Check first: WUNC reported a summer 2026 opening in May. Confirm they are trading before counting on capacity. LGBTQ+ ownership not verified.

wearebaysix.com · @wearebaysix · 2,272 Instagram

The single most useful overlap finding in this research. BaySix built and runs the official Stonewall Sports Raleigh merch store, launched September 2025. Stonewall holds section 310 at the Courage's August 26 Pride Match.

• The link: Stonewall Raleigh's own announcement thanks "@wearebaysix for your collaboration with this store." Stonewall's published financials show roughly $25,000 a year in team shirts across ten-plus sports.
• Ownership: HUB-certified woman-owned, owner Katherine Dickinson Garcia. LGBTQ+ ownership not verified.
• Capability: screen print, embroidery, DTF, laser engraving, pad printing, sublimation, in-house art. Orders start at 25 pieces. Physical showroom.
• Who they support: "Space for Good," free meeting space for nonprofits inside their warehouse. In 2024 they logged 165.5 donated hours and gave roughly $39,830, about 3.5% of pre-tax profit.

houseofswankclothing.com · @houseofswank · 10.6K Instagram

The best activation idea in this report belongs to them. House of Swank runs a live screen-printing service for festivals and events: they bring presses on site and print in front of a crowd. A print-your-own-shirt station at a Courage match is a merch drop and a fan experience in one.

• The link: their own About page names the LGBT Center of Raleigh among the organizations they have supported, which is the exact org the Courage is currently fundraising for.
• Ownership correction: not LGBTQ+-owned. Founded 2011 by John Pugh and co-owned with his wife Jessica Robinson. Treat as an ally business, and do not let anyone describe them otherwise.
• Live printing terms: $1,200 booking plus $6 per shirt, 100 minimum, four to six weeks lead time.
• Credentials: live-printed for NC State, Duke, the NC Museum of Art, Visit Raleigh and the Raleigh Chamber. Tees $27.99. Wholesales to hundreds of retailers.

pamutapparel.com

The only producer we found that genuinely solves merch that fits women and plus sizes. Sizes XS to 4XL as standard, with custom and tailored fits at no additional charge. For a women's club selling to a women's audience, that is a real differentiator and not a marketing line.

• Ownership: woman-owned, founder and designer Kat Williford, a Raleigh native. LGBTQ+ ownership not verified.
• Capability: full cut-and-sew in their own Raleigh studio. Natural fibers only. Made to order, three to five week lead time. Stated living wage for all employees and contractors.
• The hard ceiling: roughly 20 garments a week. This is a signature limited piece, never a volume run.

fullypromoted.com/nraleigh-nc · @fullypromotednorthraleighnc · 242 Instagram

Included for one specific reason: they produced the custom race tees for the Run For Love 5K, the June 2026 race whose proceeds go to Raleigh Pride and the LGBT Center of Raleigh, with over 1,000 runners.

• The link: documented on their own case-study page, in their words, "proud to partner with Run For Love, supporting LGBTQIA+ initiatives."
• Ownership: not verified. Franchise location.
• Brand new: ribbon-cutting was August 4, 2026. No track record yet at this location.

Facebook @stitchedbytempa

A Wake Forest screen printing and embroidery studio that showed up where it counts: on the Out! Raleigh Pride 2026 vendor map. Small, local, and already choosing to be in the room.

• The link: Out! Raleigh Pride 2026 vendor, booth G14.
• Ownership: not verified. No public claim either way.
• Thin file: no website found, Facebook only. Call before considering.

otsports.com · @otsports · 3,379 Instagram

If the club ever wants an authentic made-in-North-Carolina jersey or theme kit rather than a decorated blank, this is the only business within 100 miles that can do it. A 40,000 square foot factory that designs, cuts, sublimates and sews professional kit under one roof.

• They already serve professional soccer: preferred supplier to the United Soccer League since 2017, and they hold MiLB on-field rights to outfit the Durham Bulls. Also AHL, ECHL, NBA G-League, MASL, NLL, CFL.
• Scale: around 100 employees, 400+ teams, 32 years in business, with a dedicated soccer kit line.
• The ready-made vehicle: they run licensed theme-jersey programs with Marvel, Star Wars and Nickelodeon, and have auctioned theme jerseys for charity. A Pride kit fits their existing process exactly.
• The story: Burlington calls itself the historic Hosiery Center of the South. Ownership diversity not verified.

tsdesigns.com · solidstate.clothing

The best supply-chain story available to this club. Their "Cotton of the Carolinas" line grows the cotton on a named North Carolina farm, then spins, knits, sews, prints and dyes it inside a 250-mile radius. Every shirt carries a QR code that traces it back to the field it grew in.

• Credentials: first certified B Corp in North Carolina, 2008, and the longest-standing apparel B Corp. Owns its own dye house. Refuses polyester.
• Terms: published tiers. 1 to 23 pieces print-on-demand, 23+ DTG, 100+ screen print and garment dye. A full dirt-to-shirt garment takes three to four months.
• History: 48 years, once printed for Nike, Tommy Hilfiger, Polo and GAP.
• The gap: no sports clients found, and no documented LGBTQ+ organization relationship. Ownership diversity not verified.

harrissandcov.com · surratthosiery.com

Match socks are the most overlooked merch category and North Carolina still makes them. Two mills within 85 miles, both family-run for generations, both able to take small orders.

• Harriss & Covington, High Point. Founded 1920, still run by the founding family in the same town, 106 years. Sews performance socks for Feetures and Allbirds.
• Surratt Hosiery Mill, Denton. Continuously operating since 1939, one of the oldest active sock mills in the country. Knitting, dyeing, finishing and distribution in-house, with an explicit low-minimum policy, which makes a Courage sock capsule genuinely feasible.
• Ownership diversity not verified for either. Both quote privately.

brand-inclusive.com

The turnkey option if scale matters more than proximity. 100% LGBTQ+-owned and NGLCC-certified, running branded merchandise programs, and an affiliate of Geiger, the largest family-owned promotional products distributor, which effectively removes any sourcing ceiling.

• Ownership: 100% LGBTQ+-owned, NGLCC certified LGBTBE, independently listed in the Carolinas LGBT+ Chamber directory.
• Relevant experience: states it has served sports organizations, universities and nonprofits, and donates a portion of every sale to LGBTQ+ charities.
• Diligence needed: the named clients are not published, the owner is not named publicly, and social activity is thin. Call to confirm they are actively trading before naming them anywhere.

eastcoasttags.com · @eastcoasttags · 371.9K TikTok · 93.1K Instagram

The only business in North Carolina that both proves LGBTQ+ ownership and can physically manufacture co-branded garments. Their whole product thesis is "Colorless Pride Apparel," tattoo-flash designs with no rainbow, made so people can signal support without becoming a target. Owner Michelle Frost puts it directly: big retailers "consistently let us down with the most pandering apparel during pride. We deserve better. So I made better." For a Southern market that is a smart creative position, and it happens to be the largest owned audience in this entire report.

• Ownership: LGBTQ+-owned, publicly and repeatedly self-declared by founder Michelle Frost, who tags her own brand content as lesbian-made. We have not fixed a narrower label to her, because she has not written one in a sentence. Confirm the descriptor she prefers before any copy goes out. Her sister company Brevard Screen Printing is a Carolinas LGBT+ Chamber member.
• Capability, and this is the point: she owns the print shop. Brevard Screen Printing does in-house screen printing, heat press and embroidery, and already runs bulk business apparel for local banks, a Rotary club and breweries. Founded 2017. Tees $28, snapbacks $25.
• Community: Brevard Screen Printing runs a Community Print Day supporting Blue Ridge Pride.
• Three things to weigh: a four-hour drive, no published donation program despite that audience, and one public customer complaint about a mis-shipped order and slow replies. The first two are deal terms. The third means diligence fulfilment capacity before a club-scale drop.

blackmoonink.co · @blackmoonink.screenprinting · 570 Instagram

Their own homepage says it plainly: "Local, Woman, and Queer Owned Screen Printing Shop." Founded in 2026 by the two long-time managers of Lightning Bolt Ink, inheriting eleven years of equipment, screens and client files at the same address.

• Ownership: queer-owned and woman-owned, self-declared on their own homepage, which we read directly. Owners Katrina and Noah. One research pass reported this as unverified by assuming the credential belonged only to the predecessor business; it does not.
• Published minimums, which is rare: 15 pieces for one colour, 35 for two to four, 50 for five to six, 25 for embroidery. $20 per screen setup, free on reorders within six months.
• Who they support: publicly extend social-justice discounts to organizations fundraising for community causes.

emoteavl.com · @emoteavl · 13.4K Instagram

The best-verified trans ownership in the state and the strongest giving record we found anywhere. Their own FAQ: "EMOTE is trans-owned & operated queer art & secondhand shop established in 2021." Founder Bobby Shoe.

• Ownership: trans-owned, self-declared. Founder profiled in local press as a nonbinary Asheville local.
• Who they support: a mutual aid rack where 100% of profits go to Asheville for Justice, a free clothing rack, a $4 bin, a monthly grocery raffle, free public clothing swaps, and relief hub duty after Helene.
• What they stock: clothing and accessories made by queer artists, plus trans tape, tucking underwear and nipple guards on a sliding scale. Voted #1 Best of WNC for Asheville-style clothing.
• Scope: retail, curation and an artist pipeline. Not a manufacturer. They do run a published wholesale intake process.

happyimpulse.com · @happyimpulse

Stickers, pins, buttons and small merch rather than garments, which makes them a giveaway or concourse partner rather than a capsule maker. Owners Roberta and Cheryl describe the business as queer-owned and women-owned on their own site.

• Ownership: self-described "queer and woman-owned indie brand."
• The link: Out! Raleigh Pride 2026 vendor, booth S23, both Friday and Saturday.
• Giving: donates 100% of profits from some products to LGBTQ+ youth through Lost-n-Found Youth.
• Correction we made to our own draft: an earlier pass had these as a Raleigh business. Their own site says twice that they are Atlanta-based, with a Georgia shop. They come to Raleigh as a travelling Pride vendor, which is a real connection but not a local one.

peaudeloup.com

The proof that this category is normal now rather than experimental, and the fallback if no local brand materialises. A queer-owned apparel brand co-founded by Erin McLeod, a former Orlando Pride goalkeeper, that currently holds official licensing with the PWHL, the WNBA and Canada's Northern Super League.

• Ownership: queer-owned, described that way in the PWHL's own editorial. Co-founded by Adelle Renaud and Erin McLeod.
• What they already ship: the league's official 2026 Pride collection for the PWHL, team lines for the Toronto Tempo and Golden State Valkyries, and a dedicated collection carried in the Seattle Storm's own team shop.
• The NWSL precedent is theirs too: McLeod's "Futures Collection" for Orlando Pride in 2022 was billed as a first-of-its-kind team and player clothing line, made from upcycled scrap with non-binary sizing, with a portion of proceeds to the Zebra Coalition, an Orlando LGBTQ+ youth nonprofit.
• The obvious catch: Vancouver. This fails the local test completely, and is named only because it answers the question of whether a queer-owned brand can hold a league-level license today. It can.

queerencia.co · @queerencia.co · 3,487 Instagram

Named here because of a specific overlap: they run a dedicated ordering page for Stonewall Sports team shirts, and Stonewall Sports Raleigh holds a section at the Courage's Pride Match.

• Ownership: Black-owned and LGBTQ+-owned, NGLCC and NMSDC certified. Founder Ty Collier, named to Forbes 30 Under 30 in Art & Style for 2025.
• Giving: names its beneficiaries publicly: Equitas Health, Kaleidoscope Youth Center, The Trevor Project and the Marsha P. Johnson Institute.
• Terms: tees $32, crops $35, 10 to 12 business days after artwork approval, Net 30 after a first order.
• Unconfirmed: the Stonewall relationship is documented for Columbus. We could not confirm that Stonewall Raleigh orders through them.