Shop These Queer and Trans-Owned Businesses for the Holidays

The holiday season is a time for gift-giving, and the options can seem endless when you hit the mall or scroll through catalogs online. This year, consider supporting queer and trans owned businesses for your end-of-year shopping sprees. Here are some brands to check out!

Artist Couture

Start here for all your beauty needs. Founded and owned by Angel Merino, the brand is dedicated to providing accessible luxury to its customers.

From the beginning, Merino used make-up to express his queerness, source his confidence, and blend the masculine and feminine sides of his character. He grew an influential make-up platform on Instagram that now reaches over a million followers. And as his audience expanded, so, too, did his understanding of the beauty industry at large. He identified gaps in the market, the discrepancy of products, and launched his own brand, Artist Couture, to try and fill that gap.

Artist Couture is committed to high-quality ingredients, formulas, and packaging—at affordable price points.

Malin + Goetz

Founded by NYC couple Matthew Malin and Andrew Goetz, this queer-owned skincare line is as popular as it is effective. Start here to help build your bathroom collection of shampoos, conditioners, moisturizers, and body washes. Though they have brick-and-mortar locations in New York and Los Angeles, it’s easy to shop the brand online.

As a company, Malin and Goetz is committed to the creation of clean, organic products. So, for anyone shopping for vegans or the environmentally conscious, keep in mind that this brand does not participate in any animal testing!

Trixie Cosmetics

Trixie Mattel may be one of the most famous drag queens out there. While widely recognized as a drag queen, Trixie Mattel also runs a beauty line, Trixie Cosmetics. Whether you’re prepping for your next drag performance or getting ready to go out with the girlies on Friday night, Trixie’s line of fun, campy products will add a little character to your vanity.

“We strive to provide products that evoke nostalgia and celebrate a heightened sense of femininity, all with enough variety in shades and formulas so everyone can have their Trixie Moment, whether they’ve been doing makeup for decades or just days,” Mattel says on the brand’s website.

TomboyX

If you’re on the search for a more intimate gift for your queer partner, don’t sleep on TomboyX, a gender fluid underwear brand founded by queer team Fran Dunaway and Naomi Gonzalez. Featuring compression tops, tucking bikinis, and even a collection of period underwear, TomboyX offers aesthetic products that are typically hard to find, offering inclusive options and retail space for queer shoppers across the LGBTQ+ spectrum.

For the holidays this year, they’ve launched a special collection called “Holiday Newness.” Add some pet-printed pajamas to their closet while the sale lasts!

Bye Gender

This is a company that is truly recycling their profits back into the community. Founders Jason Hill and Samuel Leon originally launched Work Those Pecs/Trans is Beautiful Apparel, the brand was launched to fundraise for gender affirmation surgeries for those who were unable to pay the costs. Today, run by new owner Devin-Norelle with the name Bye Gender, the funds are dispersed more broadly, allocated to an array of living costs that trouble many in the trans community.

To support the cause and give back to the trans community directly, scroll the retail catalog of “Trans is Beautiful” t-shirts and tanks, “Bye Gender” pins, binders, and menstrual cups.

Ash + Chess

Need some queer print? A beautiful greeting card, a fun new journal, or a coffee table book?  Check out Ash + Chess, a stationery and gift company owned and operated by trans-queer couple Ashley Molesso and Chess Needham. From books like “The Gay Agenda: A Modern Queer History & Handbook” to colorful prints with motivational phrases like “There is Always Room to Grow”, the shop is for anyone looking to spruce up their apartment with queer art and literature. Their work is meant to “uplift the queer community.”

By shopping with these brands, you not only find unique gifts but also support queer and trans communities. Happy holidays!