queer businesses
Transfigure Print Co.
Screen Printing Apparel
Transfigure has been creating LGBTQ+ centered, screen printed apparel as a business since 2017, but our roots go back to when founder Bailey Sell first pressed wood block carving to paper in 2016. At that time, Bailey was navigating his own journey through coming out as trans, socially and medically.
Our roots are DIY and while we thankfully have a studio space and business license now, our sights are still centered on our local and grassroots resources for queer people and other small business.
To date, we’ve raised several thousand dollars for our regional LGBTQ+ centers and educators, like the Grand Rapids Trans Foundation and Stand With Trans MI. In total, we’ve helped raise over $8,000 for non-profits and organizations nationwide, and the rest of our profits go back into the business and supporting our friendly team of two.
In 2020, Bailey earned his BFA in printmaking at Kendall College of Art and Design of Ferris State University in Grand Rapids.
Transfigure’s first and only employee, Riley, has been helping co-operate the business unofficially and now officially since the summer of 2019. They are also one of Bailey’s longtime best friends. Riley earned an undergraduate degree in writing and business from Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids.
Bailey and Riley can be found in Transfigure’s local Grand Rapids studio every day, collaborating on new designs, managing the e-commerce shop, and screen-printing each piece of custom apparel with care, by hand. They wouldn’t have it any other way.
Riley (they/them) Bailey (he/him)