Our Story
Campsite conception
Our story begins in 2016, on a dive trip in Catalina. It was on this trip that two brothers, Aiden and Alex Kravitz, began forming the skeleton of a business plan on a small drawing pad.
For years prior to this ferry ride Aiden, relic’s artist, had been drawing marine inspired designs that had not yet found their home. It was on the ferry ride home that Alex, came up with the idea to print Aiden’s designs on t-shirts and donate proceeds equivalent to 5 oysters to the Moriches Bay Project.
With little knowledge of what do to next, we took the dive into learning how to go from pencil to finished tee.
2016
2016-2018
testing the waters
At 18 and 20 years old, and both full-time students, we had no choice but to do as much as we could ourselves. This meant building a screen printing set up from hardware store runs, renovating garage spaces, and shipping clothes out of our dorm rooms. With the helping hands of our friends and family, and many painful mistakes, we slowly built a product line.
It was during this time that we began selling our clothing at craft fairs. These events were really formative because they gave us a tremendous amount of customer feedback at a critical peroid in our growth. Guided by the voice of our customers, we continued to form our roots on the East End of Long Island.
Diving Deeper
These years were tough for relic, with both brothers finishing school and starting careers in different fields. In an effort to maintain their artistic connection to the ocean, they decided to focus their energy on expanding the brands environmental impact.
In 2020, the brothers took on their first partner, Jack Fink, who had the idea to provide beachgoers with baskets to help facilitate trash clean up on our beaches. This idea brought life to Relic's Coastal Collaborative Program. By bringing together community members, local municipalities, and small businesses, “The Coastal Collaborative” establishes frequently used beach clean up stations throughout Suffolk County.
During this time we also began working more closely with the Moriches Bay Project, starting to get our hands dirty while learning more about the oysters we were helping to plant.
2018-2020
2020-Present
FOcused on bigger goals
Relic has now successfully established over 85 beach cleanup stations at a variety of beach access points ranging from Northport to Orient on the North Shore and Bayport to Montauk on the South Shore. Through direct volunteer work and the donation of clothing proceeds, relic has helped in the growing and reseeding of over 2 million oysters back into The Moriches Bay.
Relic strives to continue growing its mission of artistically bridging the gap between those interested in preserving our marine ecosystems and the boots on the ground making the positive change. With your help, we believe we can make the changes needed to keep our coastlines clean and usable for future generations.