ON YOUR SLEEVE: Statement Tees for a Cause

ON YOUR SLEEVE is Stylish x Sustainable x Charitable apparel for the modern, conscious consumer who cares about how they look + the impacts of their purchase. Each design is matched with a carefully curated charity -- the sole beneficiary of 15% of proceeds generated from sales of that design. 

About us: 

Vanessa: 22, female, venezuelan american, lesbian, studied interdisciplinary studies, passionate about design, social good, and breaking through the barriers of institutionalized racism, sexism, classism, and more. 
Calli: 23, female, born & raised in south carolina, lesbian, studied business & communication, passionate about operations, analysis, strategy, sustainability, animals, and fighting the man.

For Vanessa & I in our professional careers, it wasn't enough to be a high performer or to exercise good judgement. You also had to be a member of the boy’s club. We were tired of hearing “but Josh said ___!”  What about what we said? How about when we said the same thing 6 months ago? Wasn’t our advice and judgement what our roles, salaries, and titles were there for? We kept wondering…what were we actually there for?

We had an overflow of powerful perspectives and ideas but nowhere to properly implement them. As time went on, it became stifling, discouraging and flat out exhausting. This is when we created an opportunity for ourselves to take full creative freedom—ON YOUR SLEEVE was born. With ON YOUR SLEEVE, we’ve built a brand based around the concept of voting with your money. We've fused style and philanthropy to create a brand that makes a minimal impact on the environment and an enormous one on human rights, animal rights and worldwide injustice. All the while offering ridiculously comfortable and stylish tees that everyone will love wearing. We figure, everyone has to get up & get dressed in the morning, so why not wear something that you can believe in? Something that you know is helping the world around you. Something that makes you look good AND feel good.
 

What we will do with funding: 

Invest. Invest. Invest. Primarily in advertising & branding opportunities. We are currently both working full-time while running ON YOUR SLEEVE, and we intend to continue to do so. We have not taken profits & do not plan to do so within the next year or two. Our primary focus is growth. We plan to take the majority of the funds to a well-established marketing agency to implement a strong social media advertising strategy so that we can reach the individuals who are looking for a business like ON YOUR SLEEVE. 

Depending on the amount raised, we also would like to begin attending both retail (direct to consumer) and trade (business to business) shows so that we can network directly with our buyers. Although we are in a digital age, we understand that people like to see and touch their clothing (before purchasing) -- especially when they haven't felt or seen this brand's clothing before. 

With any excess funds, we will also be purchasing more stock (in higher quantities) in order to lower our COGS & increase our margin -- allowing us to be even more autonomous & self-sustainable moving forward -- therefore eliminating the need for crowd-funding since margins are high enough to allow a percentage to go straight toward powerful reinvestments. 

What your contribution means to us: 

The world. Truly. ON YOUR SLEEVE is more than just a brand -- it's a social movement. As any business or platform should -- we will always harness the power of our platform for social good. With every well wish, good luck, dollar, or thousand invested, you will see your efforts given right back to you & the world around us as we continue to use our platform & a percentage of proceeds for social good -- fighting injustice, protecting our planet, saving animals, and so much more. 

Thank you for reading. Thank you for funding. We truly cannot thank you enough for believing in us, ON YOUR SLEEVE, and the good that we can do in the world.