Lane Seven debuts a new series, Meet The Innovator, spotlighting innovators, makers, and doers who use its blanks to go beyond the brand. The series, part of Lane Seven’s commitment to supporting independent creators, elevates creator voices.

Meet Matt Burke of Strained Memory

The first innovator in the series is Matt Burke. He’s an artist, screen printer, storyteller, and founder of Tallahassee, Florida-based Strained Memory. Burke brings his art and local storytelling together through short-form video content on social media. He shares overlooked pieces of Tallahassee’s history and captures the city’s quirks and charm through a lens.

Matt Burke wearing his Tallahassee-inspired T-shirt. | Credit: Lane Seven Apparel

With a passion and history in photography, he wanted his work to have a life beyond hard drives. He designed his now-signature Tallahassee T as a companion to the stories he tells online.

“Actually being able to print something tangible that I can see, that I can wear, that other people can see and wear…,” he shares. “When I’m printing stuff like this shirt, for example, the green at the bottom of the shirt gets printed first. When I print this green, I put my thumb on it to see if it’s dry before I put the other color on it. So literally every single shirt that I have ever put out has my thumbprint in the ink on it. For somebody like me, that’s just really important.”

The Right T for the Job

He discovered Lane Seven’s Vintage Tee in the color cloud black while working in a commercial print shop. That’s when he knew he wanted to figure out the perfect design for the T, and the Tallahassee shirt was born. “I mainly got it made because I just wanted a shirt like this,” he shares. “I’ve seen the Welcome to Las Vegas shirts, the Yellowstone National Park shirts, and I wanted Tallahassee to have something like that.”

With such a great response and people asking when new designs were coming, it kept the “wheel moving,” he says. “I’ve just continued to have those moments as this has grown and grown. It never gets old seeing your own personal growth. It’s awesome.”

Read Burke’s full story and watch his Meet The Innovator interview here.

“We created Meet The Innovator to build a platform that supports our customers and celebrates their stories,” says Alexis Shubin, director of marketing at Lane Seven. “We hope to amplify the work they’re already doing and to inspire more creators and decorators to build more connections within their communities.”

Want to be featured? Reach out to marketing@lanesevenapparel.com.