Our Story

Welcome to the Empire

I'm Travis. Happy husband, blessed father, Augusta, Georgia artist and founder of Pine Empire. You may be asking, "Hey, Travis! What's Pine Empire?" Well, my wife says I can be a bit long-winded since I never meet a stranger. So, I'm going to try to make this quick like how we Southerners nod our heads or wave at anyone that drives by our house.

Art has been part of my life for longer than I can remember. One of my mother's fond recollections of my childhood happened in church. With the uncanny side vision that mothers have, she noticed I was drawing while the pastor was preaching. Instead of a look of warning over her horn-rimmed glasses or a sternly whispered "wait until we get home", she looked at me with beaming surprise. She saw something in me that maybe I didn't. Jump forward a few decades and you'll find a guy that's still creating (if my pastor is reading this, I promise I'm taking notes during your sermons and not sketching new shirt designs).

As for the beginning and why of Pine Empire...

I had been painting and illustrating for years. My canvases were the kind you'd put on a wall, not yet the kind one would wear. One day while researching for a new painting, I happened upon a beautiful pint glass with an extraordinary design on it. When I inquired about it, you would have thought that I had asked to purchase the family dog. I guess we both saw value in this little glass. I didn't sulk like someone turned down to prom by their crush. Instead, I figured I'd just have to design my own pint glass in my own style. What came about was the very first design: Georgia's state bird, the Brown Thrasher. I added a tiny crown above its feathered head and liked it enough to see how it would look on a shirt. Seeing the result, I was quite fond of the design and the prospect of making more designs for more shirts.

The process of drawing the designs by hand was something that I truly enjoyed and I decided immediately to continue this process. Why? I am an analog artist by trade and I love intricacies found in design, painting, and illustration. There's a beauty to being able to recognize the work of particular artists. The artistic fingerprints (styling) show the years of dedication to the craft and how each artist has evolved. I wanted the shirts to be recognizable, not primarily by the Pine Empire logo, but by those little details. By the way, if you look carefully, you just may find a thing or two hidden in the designs. What can I say? I love to create memorable works!

Oh, and I almost forgot. I never made that pint glass.

As for our name...

We hail from the South. Georgia to be precise. We love where we're from and we take pride in our hometown and home state. One of Georgia's nicknames is "The Empire State of the South". It was fitting to include the "Empire" part in the name. As for "Pine", that was easy. Those lovely pine trees are found all over our country. Just like the beloved pine, we never wanted to limit ourselves to a little circle. What can we say? We always look forward to new connections and always new friends.

Who We Are

Evergreen. It’s a word we tend to embrace at Pine Empire. From our inception, we decided to create original, hand drawn designs in order to produce quality apparel that reflects our love for the outdoors and Southeastern wildlife and lifestyle. Just as the majestic pine is faithfully green year round, we are faithful to our values and our desire to highlight what makes our neck of the woods a truly magnificent place.

Join us and…Enjoy the Empire!