Orders flooding in

Due to the internet medium, the message of my Charity Tee quickly spread out to all corners of the world. Although it is good news, but without an online store set up, I have to go through each mail and reply them regarding their questions. Most of them were:

1. Postage cost
2. Will I ship out of UK
3. Special requests (meet in person)
4. T-shirts measurements
5. Option of 'XL'?

It is amazing to see such response, as I didn't expect people will email me and enquire about them. Some of the people who wanted the T-shirt are from: Hong Kong, Malaysia, Dubai, Berlin, New York, Singapore and France.

This proved that my message truly went round the world, and definitely made an impact, an impact to the world.

Haiti Charity Tee - Vivienne Westwood

Description:
Vivienne Westwood has designed a limited edition t-shirt in collaboration with Fashion For Relief which will be unveiled at the Fashion for Relief show to be held on 18 February in London. The t-shirt will be sold exclusively at the show as well as on www.viviennewestwoodonline.co.uk and in the Vivienne Westwood Conduit Street and World's End stores. It is a fact that women and girls are particularly vulnerable in emergency and crisis situations and are frequently neglected during initial efforts to provide food, water and shelter. Late this January a UN report stated that in Haiti 240,000 pregnant and lactating women will require nutritional support. Proceeds from the sales of the Vivienne Westwood designed t-shirt will go to The White Ribbon Alliance which supports the health needs and rights of women and girls around the world, with special focus on its partners in Haiti at this time who are helping to rebuild the healthcare system for mothers and babies.

The volunteer mappers who helped Haiti

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8517057.stm

Haiti Charity Tee - Blink 182

Description:
Blink 182 are reaching out to help Haitians in the wake of Tuesday’s devastating 7.0 scale earthquake. The band has released an exclusive Haiti Charity T-shirt, with 100% proceeds from sales going to the Red Cross. It is a classic, fun and cartoony piece of Blink 182 merchandise and it is going to a good cause so go and grab one!

Haiti Tee featured on queeried

Through my facebook page for the Haiti Tee, Michelle Penny contacted me through the wall about posting my tee on her website. Therefore I directed myself to her website, and saw pictures of the Haiti Tees and a rather kind description:

Sometimes you can think that compassion and love in the world has died but when you see people come together to help people they don’t even know following the earthquake in Haiti it really does restore your faith in humankind.

And that help has come in so many different formats – the Hope For Haiti concert being one of the biggest, alongside the Haiti Everybody Hurts single in the UK and the We Are The World 25 track in the US.

But there are also some incredible things being done at grassroots levels, such as the “We Shall Love Again” t-shirt produced by Edward Chiu. Simple but very effective, these tees feature a simple image of a brick wall with the words “We shall love again” written across it and are currently being sold for £10 each with ALL profits going directly to the Red Cross Haiti Earthquake Appeal.

Read more: http://www.queeried.co.uk/charity-haiti-tee/#ixzz0gPC3GrjR

Available to buy in a range of stores across London, including Wholesome in Shoreditch and no-one in Kingsland Road, this tee can also be ordered internationally by getting in touch with Edward Chiu direct.

Power of the internet

The news of my Haiti Charity kinda exploded in the internet. I wasn't wrong that 00o00's blog is popular and read worldwide, the response have been amazing. After a day, a few blogs around the globe have been re-blogging on the Haiti Charity Tee and even on Twitter.

Haiti Tee featured on 00o00

As he promised, Joseph kindly updated his blog with my pictures of my t-shirt, info and stockists of the project. I am really excited by this, as his blog is one of the most popular ones in the UK regarding mens fashion and also is read all around the globe. He did put in my email within the post, so fingers crossed that I will get some response.

00o00's description:

'we shall love again' is a strong message for the people in haiti. working through facebook and at some stores in shoreditch london, edward chiu self initiated this project to produce charity tees for the Haiti Earthquake Appeal. to date he has sold over 75 tees in two weeks. the tees cost £10 each and all profits will go straight to the Red Cross Haiti Earthquake Appeal.

for those in london, the t-shirt is available at:

Wholesome
47 Rivington Street
Shoreditch
London
EC2A 3QB
T: 0207 7292 899

no-one
1 Kingsland Road
London
E2 8AA

for those overseas and keen on this t-shirt, you can email edward here. it's a simple t-shirt and doesn't cost the earth. i really applaud his efforts in doing so. fashion for a good cause, we love.

Emailing fashion bloggers PART 2

In the second attempt to get attention from known fashion bloggers, I've decided to contact the man behind 00o00. He is one of the popular menswear blogger out there, therefore is worth a try.
To my surprise, I received an email an hour later saying that he will post it tomorrow morning, which will include his view, the info on the tee, pictures and even posting my contacting details on his blog so people overseas would beable to contact me regarding the tee.
I really appreciate his effort into helping me, and I look forward to his post on the blog.

London METRO

While flicking through the Metro this morning, I saw the contacts info of the newsletter. It quickly got to me that why I haven't contacted any newspaper or bigger mediums yet. Therefore I emailed them straight away with the contents and info on the Charity. Again, is a long shot, but is worth trying anyway!

Fashion Bloggers

2009 was definitely a year for fashion bloggers. This recent article presents a Panel Discussion featuring some of the most well known bloggers around the globe. It is a really interesting read and although I didn't get a reply to the previous emails that were sent out to some of the bloggers, I feel I should keep trying to maybe more or even through bigger mediums.

More info here.

Dropping off extra stock

The initial batch of Charity T-Shirts were sold out in the space of a few days at the Wholesome store. As posted earlier, Kyle from Wholesome have contacted me on extra stock, therefore more were made and dropped off today, a total of 10 T-shirts. Is good to see its selling well through a store medium.

FEEDBACK: Progress of Project

Summary of Feedback:
- Remind the audience the cause clearly (a sentence or two about the charity)
- Advertise in more sources
- Maybe try in your face tactics
- More info on the tag
- Start a business Paypal account to make things easier?
- Put them on statues (Guerrilla Tactics)
- Show at events
- Get celebrities to sign it then auction it off
- Think of more 'What if?' scenarios
- Personalize?
- Talk to T-shirt company regarding cheaper costs
- Make it limited but create a big demand (BIG CHALLENGE)

Change of Strings

The picture might not tell the story, but the first pic shows the original strings used, which is half the width of the second version (bottom pic). I've decided to change it because the width of the original strings doesn't really match the size of the rolled up t-shirt, therefore by changing the strings to a more 'weighty' version, it complements well with the packaging method, and definitely adds to the Raw factor I want with the overall look.

Haiti Charity Effort - Cultureshoq x ASICS GEL LYTE III 1 of 1 Sample Auction for Haiti Relief

Description:
An integral part of the Trilogy pack which was unveiled last year, Ronnie Fieg is auctioning off the following Cultureshoq x ASICS GEL LYTE III 1 of 1 unreleased sample to help the Haiti relief efforts. 100% of all proceeds from the eBay Auction will be presented to Wyclef Jean’s Yele Haiti Foundation. The auction runs from now until January 19th, 2010.

Emailing fashion bloggers

I have quite a few of tees through facebook, forums and shops, however I feel its still havent got a wider awareness to the campaign. Looking back in 2009, many fashion bloggers have emerged and more a less influenced the fashion industry in certain aspects. This might be a good medium to go into. My own personal blog haven't got the recognition and traffic of these amazing bloggers, therefore I've emailed them to see if they will feature my charity tee on their blogs, the bloggers I've contacted are Susie Bubble and Hapsical. Fingers crossed !

Haity Charity Tee - OBEY “Haiti” Charity T-Shirt and Prints

Description:
Studio Number One’s Cleon Peterson, Casey Ryder and Shepard Fairey have joined together to create an iconic Haiti image from a photograph by Tao Ruspoll. The project was created for Artists for Peace and Justice with all profits generated from the sales directly going to the Haiti relief effort. T-shirts and tank tops bearing the print will be available soon, but for now you can get yourself the signed Haiti Relief prints over at Obey for the price of $50 USD.

Third Order

Due to the extra stock request of Kyle from Wholesome and through the sales in the forum, I have ordered the thrid batch of 25 for the Haiti Project. The amount is still the same of roughly £94. Need to wait around a week for this batch to arrive.

Orders

This is just a few Private Message from other forum users regarding the tee, the support is there definitely and many kind words about the project have been said.

Selling through fuk.co.uk

I have been following this UK based mens fashion site/forum for a while now, and I was thinking why not try to sell some stock via this medium. Therefore I set up a page in its main fashion forum to try and get attention to any 'fashionistas'.

After only about 5-10 mins or so, the thread began to flood in with comments, orders and even views on the Haiti situation. I have to say most of the comments are positive, however some were somewhat against the whole idea making 'stuff' for Charity, which I find very offensive. As this project is not profit driven at all.

End of the day, I've received 10 orders through this forum, although you could say is small, but I feel to get 'fashionistas' to wear a Charity Tee is quite hard, and I believe I've done a good job via this medium.

View the page here.

Stock request

Just after a day since I left some stock over at Wholesome, I received a text from Kyle from the shop. He mentioned that there were a lot of request on the tees and was asking if I could bring in more stock. This is good news of course, but I didn't expect they sell out so soon. A new order would need to fulfill this request and maybe expand to the internet?

Blog post by Wholesome

After dropping off the batch of tees to Wholesome, Kyle kindly blog on the shops website regarding to the tee. This definitely helps the Tee to get a wider audience through other channels through the web.

Haiti Charity Tee - Wyclef Jean x Play Cloths “Haiti Relief Effort”

Description:
So starting today, Friday January 15th @ 3pm EST, Play Cloths will release a signature Jack logo t-shirt designed for the Haiti Relief Effort. 100% OF THE PROCEEDS WILL BE DONATED to the YELE HAITI EARTHQUAKE FUND, which is an organization supported by Wyclef Jean. In order to send the donation as fast as they can, the Haitian Jack t-shirt will only be on sale from Friday January 15th to Friday January 22nd (one week only).

Selling at no-one

As of today, the 'We Shall Love Again' charity for Red Cross Haiti Earthquake Appeal will be on sale at no-one around the Shoreditch area. Shop owner, Che has been really supportive on this project, and I'm glad the tees are now stocked at their store. More info below:

no-one

1 Kingsland Road

London

E2 8AA

Selling at Wholesome

The second store that will be stocking the Charity tees is Wholesome, again in the Shoreditch area. Met the guys of this store while working for Hypebeast, was a pleasure to know them, and they're also very supportive to the cause. Address of the store is listed below:

Wholesome

47 Rivington Street

Shoreditch

London

EC2A 3QB

T: 02077292899

Labels ideas

Due to the fact that these will be in stores soon and receiving some feedbacks on the lack of message on the tee. I've decided to create a form of tagging system on them.
In the first trail, I think is important to put my name or brand, which is noble pauper (an alias I've been using in my personal blog), the message (We Shall Love Again), the charity and finally my own website, so people can follow the progress of the charity relief.
In this first version, I've tried juggle the text around and I think this layout works best. However, by printing on paper, that will cost more towards the project, and at the same time, I want everything to be more 'raw' and less polished due to the nature of the project.

Labelling: Final

My second version is much more 'refined' and more suitable to the aesthetic that I want to achieve. Although it does take a longer time to make, but I feel the result is good and make people aware that I really put time and effort into this project. In addiction to the information mentioned in the previous post, I've also added the size of the tee, to avoid confusion while doing stock checking and it is something the shops need.

Packaging

For the packaging, I'm keeping to the method like before, the addition is only the tags which will be tied under the knot. I really like the look of the final product, as is simple and different to the typical packaging methods.

Helping Haiti Everybody Hurts Documentary

This is the reason why I'm doing this project.

Workshop 5/2/2010

Why You Haven’t Donated to Haiti Yet?

Came across this while researching on how & why people give money to charity, as I want to know the best ways to approach them apart from just facebook. Here are some of the key texts:

We give when it can help us directly. Some giving is quite self-centered. Alumni giving, to take one example, has been found to correlate in size and frequency to a less-than-shocking variable: the age of one’s child and the likelihood of his or her applying to the school in question.

We give when it can help us indirectly, by raising our social status — helping us appear wealthy or generous. In another study on alumni giving, Yale economist Dan Karlan found (in a paper delightfully titled, “Hey Look at Me”) that individuals were more likely to give when offered public recognition in a newsletter and that they were more likely to donate at a higher level if informed that donors would be separated into giving “circles” based on the amount given. While we may not want to believe that we donate to charity for recognition and social status, empirical research has found that anonymous donations are exceedingly rare (perhaps as low as 1% of all donations) — even though they’re eligible for the same tax treatment as other donations.

We give to feel good. One way we know this is indirectly: by the fact that people seem to give to charity with little to no regard for the effectiveness of their donations. We also have some direct evidence: Recent brain imaging studies have shed light on the theory that we get a “warm glow” from giving to charity. In one specific study, giving money to a food bank activated some of the same brain areas activated by rewards such as receiving food or money.

We give to alleviate guilt and repair our self-image. In a recent column I discussed how when people focused on good things about themselves, they felt less need to engage in good deeds, such as donating to charity. Well, the flip side of that same experiment — where people wrote positive or negative essays about themselves and then were asked to donate up to $10 to a charity of their choice — is that the people who focused on the bad things about themselves donated five times more than those who wrote about their positive traits. As the study’s authors put it, “when moral identity is threatened, moral behavior is a means to regain some lost self-worth.”

We give when it can increase our odds with the opposite sex. In another experiment, by University of Chicago economist John List, a team tested the effectiveness of various door-to-door fundraising techniques. One technique that had tremendous success: turning up the hotness of the woman who asked for money (“a one-standard deviation increase in physical attractiveness,” in scientific lingo). This increased average donations by 50% to 135%. As the paper delicately puts it: “This result is largely driven by increased participation rates among households where a male answered the door.”

Thoughts: All the factors mentioned above is very true. However, it doesn't relate to my method of giving to charity, which is to sell T-shirts. On the other hand, I've noticed people's feedback tend to be: I am getting something when I give this £10. Therefore is not that they are giving for nothing, but they are giving because they can get something back.

For more info here.

Shop fronts

These are the two shops that will be stocking the charity tees. As I mentioned before, their audience is really diverse, one is street and one is more conventional. I'm very happy with the replies I got from them, and they seemed to be really supportive to the cause.

Contacting shops

Upon selling the tees to friend and family, I decided the next step is to extend to a wider network. While working as an Editor at Hypebeast.com, it gave me a lot of opportunities to meet other people and gained a lot of contacts through the fashion industry. Therefore I've contacted a few shops to see if its possible to sell my charity tees at their locations.

After sending over some emails, I've got replies from two different shop, who are unique in their own ways. No-one is an independent shop stocking local designer products and also more well known brands like Transporter and Opening Ceremony. Wholesome is a streetwear store just opened around the Shoreditch area. Above inserts are the conversation we had in regarding the tees. And the good news is, they will be stocking my design for the Haiti relief.

The Tee

This is the actual physical version of the tee received via Vistaprint. Due to the price, I thought the tee quality would be quite low (feared of plastic print to be used). But to my huge relief, the tees are made my Anvil, a good quality brand who produces white tees, and the graphics are printed on with ink. Overall the quality is great, and definitely a plus point if people are paying £10 for it.

Due to the nature of the project, I've decided to go for a more toned down idea of packaging the product. without any use of plastics, paper and cardboard. I've opted for a simple method by wrapping the tee with strings. The effect is simple and sophisticated, a result I'm really happy with.

A little info on the price of the tee. As it'll cost me only £2.50 to get these produced each, I'll ask for a price of £10, so a good amount (£7.50) will go into Red Cross. I believe this price point is not too cheap or too expensive, which is perfect for students and people who would like to contribute to the cause.