BRADENTON, Fla. — A Bradenton couple say their love of beach and travel inspired them to combine their passions into a new coastal brand called SeaMonkey Apparel.

What You Need To Know

  • A Bradenton couple says they came up with the idea for an apparel business while at Whitney Beach on Longboat Key

  • Their brand, SeaMonkey Apparel, offers T-shirts inspired by real coastal locations the couple has visited

  • The couple estimate they’ve traveled to more than 50 beaches around the world

  • SeaMonkey Apparel donates $1 from each sale to Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium in Sarasota

“It’s a huge part of our relationship. It’s a part of our lifestyle,” said 32-year-old co-owner Alexandra Lowe-Mains. “We wanted to embrace that and put it into a brand.”

Alexandra and her husband, James Mains, 33, said they came up with the idea to start a new apparel company while hanging out at Whitney Beach on Longboat Key in Manatee County.

“What we’re trying to capture with the brand is secluded different locations,” James said. “Whitney Beach is the perfect place for that.”  

The Mains launched SeaMonkey Apparel from their Bradenton home last October — selling stickers, hats and 40 different styles of T-shirts, with each design inspired by a real coastal location.

“Every print that we have is somewhere that we’ve traveled to.” James said. “There’s a latitude and longitude that’s associated with the print on the shirt.”

The couple estimate they’ve traveled to more than 50 beaches around the world. They feel so confident about their new business that they’ve pledged to donate $1 from every sale to Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium in Sarasota.

“Key components to our brand is community and taking care of the environment,” Alexandra said. “We see Mote Marine firsthand doing good things. They’re very reputable. They’re known globally, and it just felt like a natural relationship to partner with them.”

Frank Vella, CEO of Constant Contact, a firm that helps small businesses market effectively against larger counterparts, said new data shows people see optimism and opportunity in starting a small business, much like they did at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“For the first three months of the pandemic — in April, May and June of 2020 — new business inceptions were up 137%,” Vella said. “We’re seeing that same sort of optimism for what adversity brings in terms of opportunity, again, all over right now.”

The Mains said their goal with the brand is to create a community of like-minded individuals with a passion for living life from sand to sea, and they plan to host coastal cleanups in the coming months.

“If you look around us, what we have is so beautiful,” Alexandra said. “We all need to do our part to try to maintain and preserve that.”

SeaMonkey Apparel will have a booth at the Fire Charity Fishing Tournament on June 10-11, and at SharkCon hosted by National Geographic at the Florida State Fairgrounds on July 15-16.