Are you guys gay?

Hello! We’re Pride Flag SD. If you’re just finding us, welcome. We’ve been busy the past few years, and we’re trying to be a little more open about who we are and what we do.

We got an email the other day that simply asked, “are you guys gay?” and it made us realize something. We might assume it’s obvious that a Pride flag company would be Queer owned, but it’s really not. In fact, it’s becoming more and more rare, and at this point we’re the only Queer owned flag maker we know of doing it this way.

I’m Maddy Russell (she/they), founder of Pride Flag SD. We’re a small, Queer owned flag shop based in San Diego, making hand sewn Pride flags. I grew up around sewing and flag making. My parents worked out of our garage making custom kites, outdoor gear, and eventually flags.

I started Pride Flag SD in 2017 because I couldn’t find a rainbow flag that felt well made or thoughtfully produced. A lot of what was available then, and honestly still now, is mass produced in ways that feel pretty disconnected from the community it represents.

No hate on the cheaper printed flags you find at a parade, I’ve been there. I bought my first rainbow flag off a cart at my first Pride. But over time I realized I wanted something that felt a little more intentional. Our community deserves products that are thoughtful and well made, and not something that feels like an afterthought.

So we started making them ourselves. We sew our flags right here in San Diego using traditional techniques and high quality materials. We wanted them to be made with the same level of care and respect as a country flag or the flag on the moon. We use flag grade 200 denier nylon, a thick canvas header, and brass grommets.

Over time, we’ve gotten to work on a wide range of projects, from parade flags to movie sets to large scale banners. Some of our flags have even ended up in museum collections. We’ve also made a very large Pride flag for a very well known white house.

Since everything we do is custom, a lot of the work happens behind the scenes. We spend a lot of time building patterns, testing construction, and figuring out how to make designs actually work in fabric. It’s slow, hands on work, and a big part of what makes our flags what they are.

Queerness informs everything we do. It shapes how we design, who we work with, and how we run our shop. When you shop with us, we want you to know everything we do is thoughtful. We keep things as sustainable as possible with recycled packaging and compostable bags, and we’ve stayed intentionally small. We’ve passed on opportunities to outsource or cut costs because this work matters to us. We joke that we’re bad at capitalism but good at community, and we try to live that out.

We donate to local organizations, lend out flags at no cost, and collaborate with other Queer businesses and creators whenever we can. We also try to keep our work within the Queer community where possible, even down to things like packaging, and have stepped away from vendors when their values didn’t line up with ours.

At the end of the day, we just want to make flags that help our community feel seen and be as gay as possible.