LightningFast.com - T-Shirts That Save Lives

A mission statement from Steve Savides at LightningFast.com:-

“When you buy a T-shirt, what do you get? A bit of warmth? A bit of cool? How about real change? When you buy Lightning Fast clothing, you’re helping transform communities. That’s because we channel 50% of our profits into projects that are proven in helping children and families escape a cycle of poverty. At Lightning Fast, we’re about combining the love of cool with the love of change. It’s a virtuous circle. You get great design on organic, fairly traded clothes. And people from Romania to Swaziland to South Africa, UK, are given a hand to build sustainable lives.” Read more

731 out of 50,000 t-shirts

My heart sank when I discovered this site today. It really is a case of reality crashing in though the door and spoiling the dream. FiftyThousandTshirts.com have the noblest ideals, their cause is more than justified, it’s a smart idea and should work to help the victims of last May’s 7.9 magnitude earthquake that devastated the Eastern Sichuan region of China.

Perhaps it’s the design, or maybe a lack of exposure on the net, or even all the disasters around the world since competing for their cause (Haiti for instance). Whatever it is things don’t seem to be going well for Steve Paterson, the creator of the website. Of course I’ll do all I can to help over here, which is the main reason for bringing all your attention to the site. FTT have been featured at numerous t-shirt related sites, blogs and forums, but from what I can tell they’ve only sold 731 t-shirts so far. Read more

Five Humans On Sale Now!

Don’t worry I’m not featuring a secret sale of human slaves, this is just a quick mention for the charitable t-shirt store FiveHumans.com who are running an end of summer sale and offering a generous 15% off all their t-shirts, especially when you consider they already donate 10% of their profits to charity! Sale runs from Sept 5th – Sept 14th. Read more

Ethical T-Shirts Supporting Communities Worldwide

I’m going to feature a few t-shirt stores that stretch their budget just that little bit further than your usual label. Over the last few years more and more charities, progressive arts communities and even businesses have realised exactly how powerful t-shirt fashions can be when you have a good cause or message to propagate. I include businesses in the mix because they too know it makes sense to align themselves with worthier pursuits than the mere accumulation of wealth and power. The consumer is more savvy than ever, the choice they face, especially when shopping online is almost insurmountable. Charities used to sell second-hand goods for pennies in most rundown high streets throughout the eighties and nineties here in the UK.

Things have moved on and nowadays you’ll find many major charities have branched out into all sorts of merchandising. Forget Christmas cards and gift tags, we’re talking desirable bang up-to-date underground fashion here, not smelly old sweaters and handbags in a bargain bin, you could almost say that the idea of charity itself has become fashionable. We’ve moved a long way since those first Live Aid t-shirts of the eighties, not everything can be summed up in a slogan and some of the following sites may offer you a surprise or two, think glamour on a budget, subtle persuasion, and a growing underground appeal and you’re halfway there. Read more