“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.”

I had a brief chat with Steve on the phone and was very impressed by the aims and objectives for LightningFast.com – for a start LF donate a whopping 50% of their profits to charity which in all honesty puts many other charitable t-shirt companies to shame! What’s more Steve who runs LF and is also involved with the Lightning Fast Foundation (LightningFast.org) doesn’t take a penny for his own wages – he earns an independent income and works for free at LF.

Now, here are some of the causes they promote and support.

Bulembu, Swaziland. An abandoned, HIV-hit town ripe for rebirth.
Bulembu, a town in Swaziland with heart and vision, is redefining and rebuilding itself. Abandoned by the mining industry, citizens were driven out and left with nothing. A community further ravaged by AIDS, orphans and babies are abandoned daily. Yet, business and social development entrepreneurs see potential in Bulembu and its spirit. They see a self-sustaining, thriving community. Today, they are bringing health, orphan care, education, commerce and hope back to Bulembu. With Lightning Fast, you are investing in Bulembu and breathing life back into this community. Connect with the town at www.bulembu.org

Palm Tree Centre, S. Africa. Orphanage and foster home in Kwa-Zulu Natal.
A vision of Mrs Ros Visagie is to extend her already successful fostering service by building a home to raise children orphaned from parents dying from AIDS. The home will provide a safe, secure environment for children from damaged backgrounds to develop into fully functional members of society. The key ingredients are: family love, discipline and awareness of their ethnic birthright. Today the land for the new home has been bought. The Lightning Fast Foundation will financially support the building project.

Oradea, Romania. The first generation of gypsy children have been educated.
Poverty and lack of education is rife in Romania. But it is the vision of Alastair Forman, a church leader in Farnham, UK, to draw alongside the people of Oradea to help them out of poverty, poor health, spiritual depravation and ignorance. This is done through financial and practical commitment to support Romania pastors and their families and to enable Mustard Seed Romania to develop programmes for orphaned children and teenagers, destitute elderly and those living with disability. The relationship is 8 years old and already seeing the first generation of gypsy children receiving education. Lightning Fast is committed to directing profits into the transformational work being done by Alastair, his church and the pastors in Romania.

LF go so much further than most charitable t-shirt stores it’s almost impossible to encompass all they do in one review, however here’s a few more facts:-

• Extremely Ethical, Fair Trade, Organic T-Shirts. Where possible, at every stage of the process, LF ensures that people and the environment are always put before profits.
• LF pay a fair price for all outsourced products whilst ensuring that all producers get a good wage and good working conditions.
• Sustainability is a watchword for LF, ensuring all theirs and related practices do not compromise the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
• By 2015 Lightning Fast’s aim is to build eco-factories in their partner communities in order to directly help clothes makers.

Here are some more images of their latest t-shirt designs including Fast Boy and Tattoo :-

For the sake of objectivity I wouldn’t say these are the most exciting designs I’ve ever seen, although as far as charitable tees go they are some of the best. If more t-shirt designers were as driven by humanitarianism as they are by monetarism perhaps we could witness a zeitgeist in charity t-shirts, something I’d be willing to be part of. After all we can’t all be rich, and seeing as so many of us on this planet are so poor, perhaps the time is right for more designers to wear their ethics on their sleeves.

I believe that what Steve needs now is a lot more attention and offers of help from everyone involved in the industry. Perhaps LF could run a t-shirt design contest, I don’t think anyone would expect a prize considering the circumstances, and besides there is always the fame, glory and of course great karma from helping out at LF. I think Steve should approach the biggest names, such as the designer Glenn Jones from Glennz.com, the t-shirt crowdsourcer Threadless.com and the ginormous T-ShirtForums.com for a legion of industry big-wigs to get this show on the road. Famous designs, famous designers and a whole heap of promotion is what is needed next.

If you want to help Steve and his cause then either buy a t-shirt, promote the site as much as you can, or offer up your best designs, I’m sure he’d appreciate everyone’s support in this. Now get down to LightningFast.com pronto.

Seeing as it’s late Monday night I’m going to cheat and reprint their own information on the company incase you haven’t read my previous review of ethical t-shirt companies here.

“FiveHumans‚Ñ¢ is a company on a mission to cure ignorance of disease through hip, fashionable clothing. The collection supports numerous world-wide diseases such as Autism, Cancer, Asthma, Diabetes, and Heart Disease. Through their creativity, FiveHumans‚Ñ¢ launched a complete collection of disease related t-shirts, long-sleeves, and hats for men and women, as well as a line for children: LittleHumans.

Their tagline is Ignorance is a Curable Disease. Not because they intend to cure the world of ignorance through their own superior intellect, but because they hold true the belief that if humans can share their experiences and knowledge collectively about their causes and even their lives, they can begin to bring about awareness. That is why their intent is to spark conversations through their designs, products, and website- any way they can so that the humans actually affected by a cause are the voice.

There are plenty of other causes for FiveHumans‚Ñ¢ to wrap their t-shirts around, and with their innovative style and top notch apparel, FiveHumans‚Ñ¢ has what it takes to raise awareness by using the power of impressions to help spread knowledge and erase fears and ignorance. Through their ongoing efforts, FiveHumans‚Ñ¢ intends to donate as much money as possible to support non-profit organizations including The American Lung Association Æ and Autism Speaks. FiveHumans‚Ñ¢ has designated a charitable organization for every cause they support, each of which receives 10% of the sale price of any related product.

FiveHumans‚Ñ¢ also recently launched a new feature on their website called, “My Story”, which showcases stories of Humans affected by a particular disease or cause in some shape or form. It is their way of providing the world with a rare glimpse into the lives of fellow Humans and their experiences. These stories are recorded and streamed on FiveHumans.com so site goers can watch, learn, and share with each other.”

You can see more of their t-shirts at FiveHumans.com

Here’s a quick rundown of Ecogear‘s amazing ethical and environmental credentials:

- recycled materials in pre-consumer cotton clippings and recycled water bottles( 65% cotton and 35% recycled PET )
– least water and energy needed to produce the fabric
– no bleach or dyes used. Their colours are from the first life cotton clippings.
– no land use for agriculture or need for deforestation
– for their printing processes, instead of being back end conscious and filtering all wastes, they are front end conscious and only use dyes that are either organic or water based.No PVC, pthalates or APEOs.

Ecogear was founded by Robert Hii, a veteran of the Toronto design and manufacturing community. With over 20 years experience in the garment industry and related manufacturing experience from China and Bangladesh, it was his sole drive to bring the most earth friendly apparel to market using all his connections in the industry.

Ecogear do more than any other company to try and ‘close the loop’ on ethical t-shirt production and manufacturing and that’s a fact. The only thing left as far as I can see is distribution, although I wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t find a way around that in the end – who knows sailing barges and pack mules maybe? :) Here’s what EG have achieved so far in a relatively short time, revolutionising the eco t-shirt industry with such ethical business practices as these.

Ecogear only works with suppliers and contractors that they know and trust. Child labour is not an issue in Canada. All our suppliers and contractors are within a 15 km radius in Toronto and we make unannounced visits all the time. The contractors do not use child or forced labour and practise job equality for women.

Ecogear has an open and regularly checked fair pay policy. They carry out periodic checks on all their contractors’ wage records. The current minimum wage in Toronto Canada today is $8.75/ hour. As part of their unannounced visits, they always ask for up to date records, not only when the contractor is working on ecogear items but for their entire working week. The present average wage for any persons at any contractor for ecogear stands approximately $10.50/ hour.

Ecogear offer fair workers’ representation as part of the ideology behind this highly committed community run organisation. Input from workers and employees is always heard whether it pertains to working conditions or a product quality. Bonuses are in place for their employees and it’s based on company performance, which drives our their employees to treat the company as their own.

Ecogear products use exclusively 100% recycled fibres from pre-consumer cotton clippings and recycled PET from water bottles. Their clothing comes with a 99% recycled sign, the 1% being the new polyester sewing thread that they use. Their main and care/content label is an iron on type which is made from organic inks. Their graphic tees use either an organic ink heat transfer or water based direct screen print. Both are declared free of PVCs and pthalates.
Their hangtag is printed on recycled paper using soy inks. It is attached to the garment with a raw sisal cord and a safety pin which is big enough that it will be useful if one chooses to reuse it.

Ecogear do not use any ecologically damaging chemicals in their production process. Their fabrics do not contain heavy metals, formaldehyde or other dyestuffs with unknown affects on people. The finishing processes do not contain PVC, which is a suspected carcinogenic. Their printing processes are PVC and phthalate free.B oth of these chemicals have been proven to have a slow release when the consumer washes the clothing at home. Pthalates have a really destructive effect on water creatures.

Ecogear work closely with various groups that protect the animals, the environment and educational groups that encourage the world’s youth to have more respect for Nature. They use their profits to assist major environmental groups in their fight to preserve the lands, waters and animals.

Ecogear offer a dodo dollar scheme which is only redeemable by donating it to their preferred list of environmental groups that belong to 1%fortheplanet.

WWF (World Wildlife Fund).

Algalita focuses on ocean research and environmental restoration of the world’s oceans.

The Toronto Zoo which has a big focus on conservation and we’re helping their fundraising drive.

Environmental Defence fights for Canadian issues.

CPAWs which fights for forest conservation and we had a major victory last week when the govt was pressure into preserving 225000 sq km of forests of their province.

Woodstockfas.org – an animal sanctuary.

OHVEC.org who are fighting the US govt. and big coal companies in an effort to stop them blowing up the Appalachian Mountains for coal.

If you’re thinking of setting up your own organic and ethical t-shirt label, I’d highly recommend you visit Ecogear, they are most certainly a potential leader for the next generation of the t-shirt industry. Mmm… feel that good karma!!

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.

http://www.fivehumans.com – FiveHumans‚Ñ¢ design and sell a range of disease related t-shirts, but plans are already afoot to expand their range to cover numerous causes affecting the world. Borne out of the ashes of Disease Tees, Dan Grunvald and Lee Fine’s (read Lee’s story here) original concept of producing t-shirts with slogans and information related to a variety of diseases.

They donate 10% of their profits to charitable organisations for every cause they support (dependent upon the product).

Currently they’re raising awareness for autism, cancer, diabetes, asthma and heart disease. They offer free US shipping on all orders over $100.

http://www.supportshirts.net – Support Shirts is a small t-shirt design label with a passion for the arts community. They began by helping to promote bands and eventually started to sell t-shirts at gigs.

Commissioning independent artists to produce their designs they take them on the road with various bands offering a unique crossover between the worlds of music and arts and fashion.

Some of the organisations they support include Skate 4 Cancer, VH1 Save The Music Foundation, Shirts for a Cure and Clothes Off Our Back.

http://www.commonthreadz.org – Common Threadz offers some excellent limited edition tees and for every sale they make they give a free school uniform to an orphan African child, essentially allowing them to attend school.

This is a great cause and provides immediate concrete results for the needy, well worth checking them out, if only for the good karma, although as I say, they do offer some really smart tees too!

http://www.organicstereo.com – Organic Stereo are based in Brighton. This independent British clothing label offers a few organic tees amongst many other fashion items. They donate 1% of their profits to charity and are members of onepercentfortheplanet.org

http://www.ethicalthreads.co.uk – Ethical Threads produce all the official merchandise for Glastonbury, so if you buy any festival shirts or fleeces there you can be assured that what you’re buying is entirely ethical!

They began with Billy Bragg’s Tours and offer a few designer tees all of which are printed with organic inks and using fair trade cotton, they personally inspect the factories where our garments are made, speak to the workers without management present, and ensure that employers adhere to the core ILO conventions

Their manifesto:

* No forced labour
* No child labour
* Freedom of association; the workforce is free to join a trade union. Our suppliers must allow access for local trade unions to talk to staff about joining a union and to verify employment practices.
* All health, hygiene and safety requirements are met by the company and can be independently verified.
* Decent shift patterns and regular breaks for staff
* Decent pay to the workforce and compliance with all minimum wage requirements.
* Equality of opportunity for all staff. * Paid holidays, paid sickness leave and paid maternity leave for staff.
* Suppliers that comply with environmental standards and to meet Oeko-Tex standard 100

http://www.mondonation.com – Mondonation is committed to inspiring positive, global change through the development of sustainable, charitable strategies. Our ‘believe’ t-shirts are just the first in a series of ethical products geared to give back to all world communities. For every shirt or product bought from Mondonation $1, $5, $10, or $20 (you decide) is given back to the charity of your choice. A list of charities available can be found on the Charity Selection page. I can’t provide an image because they offer a unique service where you add your text to their “I believe” statement – no images offered!

http://www.fairtrademedia.co.uk – Fair Trade Media offer a range of Fair Trade Tees – both designer and wholesale blanks and are committed to:-

* Supporting poor artists – 5% of the proceeds of all Fair Trade Media works sold are invested in our Fair Trade Media Fund, to finance projects supporting poor artists around the world.

* Engendering collaboration – a key aspect of Fair Trade Media is supporting creative projects in which artists and supporters work together, combined with the “open source” distribution of creative works into developing nations. To encourage collaboration, Fair Trade Media distributes works under a variety of Creative Commons licenses that provide original artists (i.e., the copyright owners) with a flexible and simple (no complex legal documents) means to open their work to an expanded audience and to potential collaborators in the world. Open to all.

http://www.idressmyself.co.uk - I Dress Myself works with artists from around the UK Creative Commons using non-profit flexible copyright licences for creative works to produce limited edition printed goodies.

Each contributing artist gets a percentage of their product sales so that if their designs do well, so do they.

They think this is fairer than a one-off fee. They aim to bring together work from established and emerging artists alike.

Their products are limited edition and screen-printed by hand using eco friendly water based inks on organic cotton and sustainable bamboo garments, and premium recycled paper.

http://410bc.com – 410 BC donate profits (usually 15 percent) from specific shirts to important causes and charitable organisations and we offer an environmentally friendly, 100 percent organic cotton line.

410 BC is all about choice, it’s about having choices when buying things, especially the choice to support people that have bigger goals than just making money. All of their clothing is made, manufactured and printed in the USA, which costs more than if they outsourced production to another country. The shirts they print on are sweatshop free, (American Apparel) and made in the USA.

You can check out their store at http://410bc.bigcartel.com

http://www.wearenumbers.com – We Are Numbers raises issues (via t-shirts) on personal liberty and political freedom.

http://www.districtcotton.com – District Cotton are an old favourite here at Buy Tees. They offer a monthly t-shirt design competition and they need votes now! A very generous 10% profits from each t-shirt are donated to various charities covering everything from the environment to human rights.

http://www.teecycle.org – Tee Cycle offer a unique service, they scour their local flea markets for abandoned classics, wash, press and sell them cheap to the public, I’ve bought three t-shirts from them before including an old Clockwork Orange tee, an old school Homer (from the Simpsons) t-shirt and a great little cropped top for my partner Christina. Well worth a visit if you’re after a bargain, yes their prices are rock-bottom and the profits are donated to environmental charities.

http://www.organictshirt.net – I’m still seeking partners to begin my own unique organic fair trade t-shirt company – I have a range of unique designs and we can offer a percentage to other designers, however I do need an organic screenprinter and a whizz at online marketing, we split the profits three ways… contact me if you’re game.