Fifty Thousand Shirts Shipped
On December 20th I received an email from MerchSquad saying that my order had shipped. A bit of investigation told me that the order was for two tees from the charity t-shirt web site FiftyThousandShirts.com I’m a fan of charity tees, assuming they are well designed, because it’s not like you are just giving money away. You are also generating business, income and sometimes even creating new jobs. You also get to show off how charitable you are and the chicks really dig that. (Jokes!)
I first mentioned this website back on May 24th when I put my name down for two shirts but it wasn’t until August that they officially opened the store. By that time, of course, the publicity and news of the tragic situation in China had died down. I guess the interest also died down but clearly interest was never as high as Steve Paterson, the creator of the project, had hoped. The idea was to sell 50,000 shirts and send about $1 million dollars in aid to the victims of the earthquake that devastated China earlier this year. The total number of people who put their names down for shirts didn’t reach 750 which is quite short of the hoped for figure of 50,000. In reality though, the number of people who put their names down and the number of people who actually paid for the tee was also way off, at least when I spoke to Steve Paterson on the phone. I guess one reason could be the state of the economy had drastically changed since this project had started and people were more worried about putting food on their own table and paying their own rent.
Anyway, I payed for my t-shirts on August 15th and when a month had rolled around with no sign of a shirt I wanted to know the status. There were no updates on the site so on September 30th I shot off an email to see what was going on.
It has been over a month and we still haven’t received our shirts. We were wondering what the delay was and when should we expect the shirts to arrive.
There was no reply so on October 19th I send another very similar email to which there was no reply either. Nor was there an update on the site.
It has been nearly two months and we still haven’t received our shirts. We were wondering what the delay was and when should we expect the shirts to arrive.
This was a little frustrating. I decided to call them but because of the time difference it was difficult to find the right time to call. Find it I did though, early one morning before work I got through to Mr. Paterson. He wasn’t very apologetic but he explained that he was waiting for 1,000 or 2,000 ( I forget exactly) shirts to be ordered before he would get the first batch printed. It was here he told me that of the people who put their names down for a shirt only a few actually paid. I can understand that and I wouldn’t have minded waiting longer if I had to. The thing that annoyed me was that he neither replied to my emails or updated the website to let us know what was going on. In fact, there was no update, that I can see, on the website from August 11th until finally the shipping notice was published on December 15th. At this time, they also announced that the store had closed.
It’s been a long time coming, but the shirts should arrive from the printer to MerchSquad on Dec 17th, and be shipped out by the 18th! Thanks to everyone for your support and your patience through this process. I know many of you have been wondering where your shirts are… and hopefully you’ll have them as an early Christmas present!
Also, you may have noticed that we closed the store. I am saddened that we needed to end the project before reaching our goal, but it looks like I simply bit off more than I could chew. In reality, it did not make sense to allow orders to trickle in, one or two at a time – as printing costs would have been too high to allow for much to be dontated.
Please check in after the Holidays, as I’ll be posting a little info about how much, and to whom we’ll be donating the profits. And again, from the bottom of my heart, thank you to everyone who supported this project. You are a blessing.
The t-shirts haven’t arrived yet but when they do I will make another post and hopefully include the details from the donation they have promised above. Although I won’t hold my breath waiting for them.
My advice for anyone in any business is to keep the lines of communication open. If you are having some problems that will affect your customers in any way, you should let them know. In many cases they will be understanding. On the other hand people get very frustrated and angry when they are ignored.
DBH and Toys for Tots
The sale at Design by Humans may be over but there is another reason to buy some tees from there now. For every tee they sell they will donate $1 to Toys for Tots. Pretty cool.
They have also suggested that big changes are coming to Design by Humans and I wonder what they could be. Below is a blurb from their newsletter.
January 5th. Everything changes. Well, maybe not everything, but pretty darn close. Lets just say we have been listening to you in 2008 and have a few surprises in store for the new year.
Ten Bills Contribute to One Organization
Ten Bills is a popular t-shirt store than sells t-shirts for, that’s right, $10. All the t-shirts have a very urban feel and fans of the TV show, The Wire, might be interested to know that Michael Kenneth Williams (Omar Little) is a fan of this store and apparently drops in sometimes to check out their new releases.
Well, back to the main point, Ten Bills are giving $1 from every t-shirt they sell to the One Campaign by purchasing a white One bracelet and mailing it to you along with each t-shirt you purchase. The proceeds of these bracelets and all merchandise from the One Store benefits the One Organization and the movement of the One Campaign directly. MORE INFO. Considering the t-shirts are only $10 to start with, I think that is pretty generous. But it goes further than that. Even if the t-shirt was $5, $7 or $10, or if you use a coupon, every t-shirt you buy will account for another dollar towards the One Campaign. And to help generate more funds, they are extending the $5 flat rate shipping option for the entire month of December.
I have to wonder if the kids pack, a great bargain that includes three kids t-shirts for $10, will also be included in this offer. If it is I can only imagine that Ten Bills will lose money on that deal especially if you use the coupon that they provide: a 10% off coupon that expires this Friday (Dec. 5). CODE: IGLOO.
Anyway, even if it wasn’t for a good cause Ten Bills is great deal and a great place to do some holiday shopping. It is good to see that they are feeling so generous even after forking out $39,000 to someone who either doesn’t understand humor or is a bit of an asshole.
An e-mail sendout to TenBills shoppers in 2007 announced the release of airplane keychains that would be included with the purchase of three $10 t-shirts. The declaration read, “Free Airplane with Purchase of $30!” One TenBills fan, however, expected a full-sized airplane and filed a lawsuit to get it. (Read more…)
Street Art Charity Tee from TeeFury
TeeFury are at their charity collaboration thing again and this time the charity is called Movember. All shirts at TeeFury cost $9 and are only available for 24 hours. Here is the blurb from TeeFury by Wotto, who organized it.
This collab has been a month in the making and featured 56 artists from the far corners of the world. It is also going to raise money for an awesome charity called MOVEMBER. This charity is vitally important and helps to raise awareness of Prostate Cancer which claims the lives of many men each year all over the world. Wanna read more about it and grow a stache? Do it here:
www.movember.com
Street art has influenced me from a very early age. It’s recent growth in popularity has meant that more than ever people are expressing themselves through using their local environment. This tee celebrates all styles of street art including stencils, stickers, characters, tags and graffitti. Love or hate it street art is more influencial in design than ever before.
So buy this tee for 2 reasons:
1. You will look awesome and cool
2. Because it helps to raise money for a charity that ultimately saves lives!
What more do you need to know?
Huge thanks to teefury for giving me creative freedom to do this project and massive thanks to every single lovely artist who contributed. You all = Awesome!
Buy a T-Shirt Help an Orphan
Hopefully coming up to the holiday season people are feeling a bit charitable and will be more than happy to fork out a bit of cash to help out some people in need. Of course this is not restricted to holiday season but as holiday season is coming up I thought that I might tell you of how purchasing one of these t-shirts as a gift for a friend or loved one will also benefit an orphan. According to the website:
- Every T-shirt you buy feeds an orphan for 1 month in Africa. Learn more.
- All of our T-shirts are Fair Trade
- All of our T-shirts are super-soft American Apparel; no stiff shirts here!
- The back of every moju shirt reads “This T-shirt fed an orphan for 1 month.”
At the moment they have five different unisex t-shirts in sizes xs to xl. Check out the Moju Project store to get a closer look at the designs. Unfortunately there are no photos of the actual shirts themselves. They all cost $25.
TeeFury does Charity
TeeFury have released a shirt where designer commissions will go to Orphans International Worldwide (OIWW). I wonder why TeeFury didn’t throw in another dollar or so from their profits. Below are some details about OIWW from the TeeFury site.
Orphans International Worldwide (OIWW) was founded by former investment banker Jim Luce in 1999 as a response to the global crisis facing orphaned children. OIWW has established a network of locally incorporated homes to house and educate children orphaned and abandoned after the Tsunami in Sri Lanka and Indonesia, and the 2004 hurricane in Haiti. OIWW provides aid to the world\’s most disadvantaged children with the donated services of 100 volunteers, on an annual budget of less than a half-million dollars. OIWW is associated with the United Nations Department of Public Information and is headquartered in New York City. OI America is a 501(c)(3) not for profit corporation.
Find out more at www.oiww.org/
Organised by Tom Burns, he and 19 other artists, including Wotto, contributed to the design. TeeFury sells all t-shirts for $9 but they are only for sale for 24 hours (just over 21 hours left at the time this was posted.
Gwyneth Paltrow and Cancer Research
Gwyneth Paltrow lends her body to cancer research. No, nobody is going to do tests on her fabulous body. She is simply modeling a t-shirt designed by Karl Lagerfeld and sold by Saks Fifth Avenue that will give $35 of its $40 price tag to the Entertainment Industry Foundation Women’s Cancer Research Fund. The shirt can be purchased online at SaksFifthAvenue.com.
I am all for good causes and I admire Gwyneth Paltrow for all the wrong reasons but to be honest, this shirt doesn’t do it for me. The design on the front may be OK although I have no real idea what it is supposed to mean or represent. It is the back print that lowers this tee to dish cloth level. I mean, how vain is this Lagerfeld to have to ruin any chances this shirt had by placing his own portrait on the back.
Dark Knight in the Election Campaign
Anonymous LA-based artist has painted McCain and Palin as Two Face and the Joker and is selling them on Cafepress t-shirts. The artwork is excellent whether or not you agree with the message but I wouldn’t wear such a hideous image on my chest. It is for a good cause though.
The artist is currently selling these designs on a variety of products through Cafepress.com. Because he has seen the homeless and the animal communities suffer so much during the last 8 years, proceeds from the sales will be given to two local non-profit groups that help the homeless and animals. (Read more at indybay.org.)
Zazzle Community Giving
I came across this when I was adding a new Zazzle coupon in the forum. The coupon was a special coupon for only one store which is interesting in itself but when I went to that store I saw the little logo at the top right of the store. It says Approved Member of the Zazzle Community Giving Program.
I had never heard of such a program but a quick google of it brought me to the Zazzle page which lists the many charities that are selling items through Zazzle. It is great to see that Zazzle is helping out these good causes. Although I have no doubt that they are profiting from the relationship I think it is a win-win situation. It brings more attention to the charities while making money for both themselves and Zazzle. It also allows people to buy some trendy gear while at the same time giving to charity. Make that a win-win-win situation. Head over to get more information.
For Zazzle shopkeepers there is an interesting point to be noted. Zazzle has the ability to provide shops with special coupons that can be used in one shop only. Perhaps shopkeepers will be given the ability to give coupons for our shops at some later point. I think Spreadshirt may already have this facility but I could be wrong.
FiftyThousandShirts.com Store Open
About three months ago I told you about the guys over at Fifty Thousand Shirts attempting to raise money to help out the victims of the earthquake that devastated China earlier this year. Their idea was to sell t-shirts (50,000 of them) and hand over all the profits (about $1,000,000) to a relevant charity. It took a while to get the shirts out as there were a few hiccups along the way but they are finally on sale. So if you are feeling charitable please head over there and grab yourself a shirt or two.
Obviously I don’t have my t-shirts yet but they look pretty nice and they are for a good cause. Recently though I have been thinking about this charity and it is a nice thing to do and one million dollars seems like a lot of money and should help a lot of people. Then I think about the $58 billion that I heard were spent on the Olympics in China and I think again. Reduce that figure to $57 billion and you could have helped a thousand time more people that this charity will. Something to think about.
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