Farofa Nation Charity Tees

admin    Charity T-Shirts     Brasil, Charity T-Shirts, Farofa Nation, charity tees

Farofa Nation is a design and T-Shirt company dedicated to helping the poor and unfortunate kids of Brazil. In 2007 designers Serge Castagna and Ana Testa Castagna founded Farofa Nation, the couple first met in 1998, Serge was born in Switzerland and raised in the States and it was a few years before Ana brought him to her home town in Rio. It was there that Serge witnessed true poverty for the first time first-hand and from then on both were  determined to help the abandoned street children of Brazil in anyway they could.

The name Farofa Nation comes from  a popular dish in Brazil called a ‘farofa’ which is a manoic flour usually in a mix of salted and smoked meats, olives eggs and spices, however the term also means ‘eclectic blend’ in Brazilian culture,  which is the design ethos behind the label. To produce their inimitable tees they procure the talents of some very interesting designers and artists including Brazilian artist/art director Jamie Tao, hilarious artist Luis Aguilera, and Miami artist Juan Patino.

If you’re looking for something a little different and would like to help the abandoned street kids of Brasil in some small way, check these out:

The Mind of Tao T-Shirt

A lovely hand-drawn tee for the girls, it almost looks like a moleskine sketch torn from the book, rather hypnotic in its own way. Perfectly fitting for the ‘eclectic’ theme for Farofa Nation, you can buy The Mind of Tao tee for $26 (only small sizes left!).

Royal Monster T-Shirt

Designed by Luis Aguilera, if you’re a fan of cute monster toons then this must be the king of them all. Funny, irreverant and rather hilarious the Royal Monster tee is available for $26 in sizes S/M.

Abduction T-Shirt

Most definitely my favourite of the lot, the Abduction tee features those pesky greys sizing up yet another cow to slice up for what I can only guess is an off-world gene bank to re-introduce life to the planet when we humans have screwed everything up beyond repair. Still, enough of the conspiracy theories, get this ultra cool shirt for $26 in sizes S/M.

See the rest of Farofa Nation’s quirky t-shirt collection at www.farofanation.com and maybe help a few kids in Brazil improve their lives at the same time.

The Wisdom of StupidHurts.me

admin    T-Shirt News     Charity T-Shirts, Kiva, Stupid Hurts, charitable t-shirts, charity tees, micro banking, micro credit

Now before I get any complaints I won’t be featuring any t-shirts in this post once you read what I have to say I’m sure that you’ll all be most understanding. StupidHurts.me is a new t-shirt site with a difference, this brand new brand is still in beta and so I can’t show you what they’re offering right now, but I will give you a clear idea of their aims and objectives.

StupidHurts.me have developed a revolutionary way of offering an alternative to charitable donations to the most deserving across the world, not only have they opened their doors to budding t-shirt designers on the net, but they’re offering $1 to each artist and $2 to the micro credit organisation Kiva.org on every sale of every winning tee. So for all you t-shirt designers out there, old and new, come and help the world by submitting your own designs here.

If you’re not sure what micro credit is, well let me just spout my personal opinion for a moment here, it’s a system that will most likely save the world one day, or at least provide a real safety net for billions of people living in capitalist democracies across the world. What much of the West forgets is that charity alone will not provide all the solutions, or at least not effectively in the long term, to help the poor and needy around the world. It might buy them some food, or help them grow it, or a pump for a regular water supply, or even clothes and shelter, but what it doesn’t do is deal with the underlying problem of poverty and inequality.

This is a two way street by the way, imagine if an African bank or an Indian corporation had the wealth to buy out failing banks and companies in Europe or America, imagine if there was far more trade across the world, a higher income for every inhabitant of the planet, a thriving geo-global investment market that could self-repair from the ground up. Well with micro credit and micro banking it might just happen. Lending to the poor never made so much sense. Businesses start small, all businesses, relatively speaking, have to start from scratch. If I’d had the funding a few years ago to set up my own t-shirt label, I’d most likely be employing staff by now, who would be paying their taxes, buying products, paying bills and generally contributing to the world economy. Yet I am from a relatively wealthy Western nation.

Try and imagine the same predicament for a farmer, engineer, merchant, artisan, or in fact anyone of any skill in the poorest regions of the world. It’s even more difficult getting a business off the ground when one has to worry about how to feed one’s children, or repair the roof of a home many in the West would consider squalid. The fact is that in the poorest countries, the most infitessimal amount of finance can change a region from a 3rd World to a 2nd World economy within decades, the trickle-down theory actually can work, given the right circumstances, an appropriate vision, and patience. Micro credit has proven that.

Read more about how Stupid Hurts t-shirts might just help save the world by contributing to Kiva here. Sign up for Stupid Hurts’ newsletter and get previews of their latest t-shirt submissions (when available) here. Stupid Hurts, not so stupid after all.

LightningFast.com – T-Shirts That Save Lives

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     Africa, Charities, Charity T-Shirts, charity, designer t-shirts, donations, ethical t-shirts, fair trade, good causes, organic t-shirts, poor, t-shirt

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

admin    T-Shirt News     50000, Charity T-Shirts, China, aid, art, charitable, fiftythousandtshirts, good causes, save lives, t-shirt charity

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!

admin    T-Shirt News     Charity T-Shirts, charity tees, ethical t-shirts, five humans, fivehumans, fivehumans.com, t-shirts for charity

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 ‚Äì Sept 14th. read more

Ethical T-Shirts Supporting Communities Worldwide

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     Charity T-Shirts, charitable t-shirts, ethical t-shirt designers, ethical t-shirts, fair trade tees, organic screen printers, t-shirt donations

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