About Us

We make t-shirts for people who yell at plastic.

Beta Optional started because we were tired of two options: overly serious performance gear that makes you look like you're about to free solo El Cap on your way to brunch, or climbing shirts with puns so bad they make everyone in the gym physically cringe.

We're climbers. We get it. You want to wear something that signals "I'm part of this weird, wonderful community" without looking like a walking REI billboard or explaining a joke about crimps to your coworker.

The thing about climbers is...

We've developed an absurdly specific language that makes perfect sense at the gym and sounds completely unhinged everywhere else. We have strong opinions about grades. We give unsolicited advice. We say "one more try" knowing it's a lie. We've been working the same project since the route setters were in middle school.

And honestly? That's the best part.

So we made shirts about it.

Designs that make other climbers do a double-take and non-climbers go "...what?" Insider references executed with actual design taste. The visual equivalent of catching someone's eye across the gym when someone asks "is this sandbagged?" for the third time.

If you know, you know. And if you don't, that's kind of the point.

Our philosophy:

Climbing culture has the best inside jokes. They deserve better than cheap blanks and crappy screen prints. We use premium materials because your favorite shirt shouldn't fall apart faster than your finger tendons. We keep designs clever but minimal because you're sophisticated humans with actual taste, even if you do spend your weekends screaming at a wall.

We're not here to inspire you.

No mountain vistas. No "crush your limits" manifestos. No photos of people hanging off cliffs by their fingertips while the sun sets majestically behind them.

Just honest shirts for people who love this ridiculous sport—the failures, the projects that'll never get sent, the eternal warm-ups, and yeah, occasionally, the sends.

Made by climbers who are definitely not sponsored.

We're the people perpetually "almost warmed up," convinced the next size down in shoes will unlock our true potential, and absolutely certain that climb was soft.

Welcome to Beta Optional. The beta is always optional. The laughs are not.