A wave and the Dune Road beaches appeared in one of OOLI’s early designs. For Deb Breheny, the clothing business starts with a family connection to those places. “One of our first designs featured the wave with the Dune Road beaches,” she wrote in an email interview with Debjo’s Boutique. “As a family we all have enjoyed those beaches as well as the ones in Fire Island.”
OOLI stands for Only On Long Island. Some of its designs are hand drawn, a distinction Breheny clarified while reviewing the earlier feature draft. The business brings her together with her three daughters around clothing and places they know.
“I wanted to start a business with my three daughters because I want them to know they can achieve anything they set their minds to,” Breheny wrote.
“I felt that it would not only bond us but I also wanted them to earn extra money to help with college expenses,” she wrote. The work involves design, stock and festival days as well as the idea for a shirt.
A family business has a lot of jobs
Breheny runs OOLI alongside another full-time job. In her Oct. 16 follow-up, she wrote: “I also want to add that I am a full-time special education teacher while running this business.”
Her first answer described how the family divides the work: “Sierra, my oldest designed most of our original sweatshirts. My middle daughter Reese works hard at our festivals and helps with inventory.” Her youngest daughter, she wrote, “also helps with designs and basically assists me with everything when the other girls are at school.”
Sierra also runs the business with her mother. Breheny described her as “my oldest daughter who runs the business with me” in the interview. These are different responsibilities, from a design’s first drawing to keeping a festival table supplied.
“Speaking of family, I haven’t mentioned my husband Owen who works every festival without complaint and gave us the ideas for the very popular fishing designs,” Breheny wrote. “Without him, it would not be possible.”
The Dune Road wave gives readers a place to begin looking at the clothes. The family’s account also supplies questions to ask about them: Who had the idea, who developed it, and what work brought it to the rack?
Keeping something for the coast
“I told my daughters that I didn’t just want us all to make money but I also wanted us to give back to Long Island,” Breheny wrote. “We love the beach and boating, so after looking into it, we decided to donate a portion of our profit to Coastal Steward.”
The donation plan later expanded to include a printing partner. “We do some of our printing with another Long Island small business, Relic Designs,” she wrote. “We decided to split our donations between Coastal Steward and Relic Designs.”
Coastal Steward’s published program information says its beach-cleanup and marine-education programs have been paused so available volunteer and funding resources can focus on shellfish restoration. Readers should check its current opportunities before making plans; the interview’s references to earlier cleanups are not a current event listing.
Relic’s Coastal Collaborative provides beach-cleanup stations with baskets that visitors can use to collect litter. Its program gives people a way to help during an ordinary trip to the beach, without waiting for an organized cleanup.
Breheny also described a seasonal effort in her Oct. 16 correction: “We are also selling Breast Cancer Awareness t-shirts and sweatshirts right now and we donate 50% of the profit to Positively Pink, who make baskets for newly diagnosed women.” Check with OOLI that the offer is still running before buying; no end date was supplied.
For a reader who wants to get involved, Relic’s station map is a practical starting point. Coastal Steward also posts a volunteer calendar for its restoration work; check the current opportunities and details before making a trip.
You can find OOLI’s clothing through its online shop. A familiar beach may be what first draws someone to a design; the family’s answers explain the work and donation choices behind it.