For most people, each season of commercial fishing in Alaska is a shock to the system. For Melia Harding, it became the spark that launched her brand. From being a born-and-raised Alaskan from a fishing family, she has created something special. 

“I knew I wanted to create something grimy and focus on the space I was in, fishing out in Alaska,” Harding said when we spoke ahead of her debut at the Pacific Marine Expo. “When I first went out, I brought a sketch pad like I do everywhere, and I was just taking in and drawing all the things I was seeing.” 

Those early sketches for Harding from the back deck, inside jokes, and the gritty humor that gets crews through long openers became the bones of AK Dirtbag, the hand-drawn apparel line she built from the bunk up.  

Harding’s earliest ideas weren’t crafted on land in a studio. They were drawn within sea spray, slime, and stolen, scaley moments between sets. 

The first two designs that ended up on AK Dirtbag shirts came straight from the season: a friend chucking a buoy, and “some dude mooning me,” she laughed. “It all really began with what I was seeing.” 

As her sketches began piling up, Harding shared them with fellow fishermen. Their responses were quick.

“I showed some fishermen my designs and they really loved them, she said. “So, the following fishing year, I decided to use my fishing money and put it into my business.” From then, she really took the leap, packed up her merchandise, and headed to Naknek after the season with no idea what would happen. “I brought so much and just did not know how it was going to do, but I ended up selling out,” she shared.  

AK Dirtbag origin story, AK style  

AK Dirtbag became an LLC in January, with Harding’s first official sales rolling out in June. But the real launch wasn’t at a trade show or a shop. It was out of the back of her skipper's truck in Naknek.  

“Friends basically got all the bars in Naknek to let me set up a table,” Harding said. “I was just selling out of the back of my truck, barhopping at night, meeting new people. That’s really how it all started.” 

LFS Marine Supplies also allowed her to set up outside its shop – a partnership Harding hopes to continue as she expands the brand.  

The approach was gritty and a familiar fisherman-to-fisherman hustle that has helped launch so many maritime brands. However, after speaking with Harding, I could hear the passion in her voice for creating with salt, more edge, and a sketch style that truly is unmistakably Alaskan. 

“I wanted something that felt unique, but on brand to what we commercial fishermen do,” she said. “We maybe only shower twice during the salmon seasons-maybe. I wanted something that encompassed the culture of being disgusting but also enjoying every minute of it.” 

When asked how she came up with the name, she shared that it came to her instinctively. “I don’t even know where. It just came to my mind,” she said. “AK Dirtbag felt that it captured the culture of what this industry is.” 

Hand-drawn, digitized, and silk-screened all in Alaska 

Every piece in the line started with Harding’s pencil on paper. “I’ll draw something like 10 times,” she said. “Then I digitize it, get it in one shot, and send it for silk-screening. And all my silk-screening is done in Alaska.” 

Her commitment to keeping production local to her brand is woven into her story. On her website, Harding writes about working closely with Alaskan suppliers and building a business rooted in the same communities that raised her on the working waterfront. 

She still works the salmon fishing seasons and strives to reach any fishery she can get her hands on. “I really want to experience a fishery before I create a design that stands for it,” Harding said. “Being out there is a huge part of why this brand exists.” 

Her goal is to fish every Alaska fishery she can. She’s already itching for the moment she can turn that experience into an illustration. 

Part of AK Dirtbag’s appeal is its unapologetically insider humor. Harding draws what she knows: the chaos, the camaraderie, and the dark humor that keeps the crews sane. 

“There are times when people ask, ‘What does kiss my aft mean?’ and I’m okay with people not getting the joke because it's not for them,” she said. “It’s important for me to keep it authentic. The people who get it, get it.” 

Her new design, which she's showcasing at the Pacific Marine Expo, called Bottom Dwellers, isn’t meant to be cute. It’s meant to feel like being on the back deck for days, weeks, months at a time, and showcasing the Alaska crab season. 

Fishermen’s frustrations lead to inspiration 

Harding keeps a running list in her notebook of things fishermen rant about – broken mugs, gear that never lasts the full season, and essentials no one makes quite right. Those frustrations help inspire her designs and hopefully later become long-lasting products that her designs live on. 

“I notice what fishermen are complaining about and write it down,” she said. “There’s not a really good boat mug that’s like a travel mug, so I really want to work on that. I have a lot coming for 2026.” 

For now, AK Dirtbag is staying proudly Alaskan. “I want more time to understand the culture of each fishery,” she said. “Other places might be more of a three-to-five-year goal, but the Alaska fishing calendar will stay top of mind for my inspiration.” 

The Pacific Northwest is a natural next step for her following her home state. “I’ll probably do some fisheries outside of Seattle,” she said. “But I really want to understand everything before I jump right into a design.” 

She has also collaborated with nonprofits in Alaska to keep the brand deeply tied to the fleets it serves. “There’s so much talent commercial fishermen have,” she said. “Artists can also be fishermen. It’s all cyclical.”

Harding is making her first Expo experience at booth #243, right next to the Galley Stories podcast. 

“It feels important to be creating stuff that’s handmade,” she said. “In a time of AI, it does matter.” Authenticity isn’t a marketing tactic for Harding. It’s the product. It’s her process, and it’s the point. AK Dirtbag isn’t trying to just sell to fishermen- it’s made by one who’s really out there.