Try these tips to start your own t-shirt fundraiser<\/div>\n
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- \nPick a great cause and a name.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n
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Since 1976, Black History Month has been observed in the United States during the month of February. Each year, millions of people celebrate the month as a time to reflect on black heritage, achievements, and important figures. Gearing up for your school\u2019s Black History Month event, or looking for custom apparel to inspire your group? You\u2019ve come to the right place!<\/p>\n
Looking for a way to recognize and celebrate Black History Month, creating custom t-shirts seemed like the obvious fit at Custom Ink\u2014and it wasn\u2019t long before a team of store Inkers launched a fundraiser to involve others and give back to their communities. We took some time to speak about the fundraiser with Andrew Harker, the Stores Regional Manager in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>The design for the Celebrating Black History Month 2022 fundraiser features the names of Black women who have had an impact on U.S. culture and history.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n CI: How did you decide to do a fundraiser?<\/b><\/p>\n AH:<\/b> This whole story really starts with our Inkers looking for ways to share our values and what we stand for within our local communities. The fundraiser idea came after thanks to Inkers and customers hearing about it and wanting to be a part of the amazing designs our teams and artists came up with. Like a lot of great ideas, this really came about because of conversations and sharing of ideas!<\/p>\n CI: What inspired you?<\/b><\/p>\n AH: <\/b>They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery! I was at another retailer and saw the team there wearing shirts that supported a national cause awareness month. I immediately thought, \u2019Why aren’t we doing this?\u2019 It would be such a win for our Inkers to show their support for causes we feel strongly about, and customers would see our values AND get ideas that would inspire them as well!<\/p>\n CI: What does it benefit?<\/b><\/p>\n AH: <\/b>This fundraiser supports Advancement Project National Office<\/a>, an organization Custom Ink has aligned with and supported company-wide. Their objective is to promote racial equity and build a foundation so that everyone may thrive, and I think that’s something Inkers connect with at a fundamental level.<\/p>\n CI: In what ways did the t-shirts help when organizing the cause? Did the t-shirts draw others to your cause?<\/b><\/p>\n AH: <\/b>Going back to the beginning, again, this was a very collaborative and organic venture. From the original idea, Inkers came up with the idea for Stores team members within each region to create designs to celebrate Black History Month, and then the teams voted on the designs. From there, one shirt in each region was created for team members to wear in February. Somewhere along the way, the idea came up to create a fundraiser utilizing these designs, but since there were two designs used, would they have competing fundraisers? That didn’t feel right, and someone had the great idea to have our talented artists combine both designs into one and share that with other Inkers, our customers, and our families as a fundraiser. I think the combination of both designs to form this final product couldn’t be more appropriate for us in celebrating and promoting our diversity and belonging initiatives.<\/p>\n Inker Tionna Cotman from the Annapolis, Maryland store designed the winning piece for the Northeast region.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n CI: Where did you get the design? What was the process of having our Design Services team merge the art like?<\/b><\/p>\n AH: <\/b>The two designs were created by our very own Inkers Jay Holton and Tionna Cotman.\u00a0 Tionna’s design received some assistance from Design Services<\/a>, and the final combined design was also created by Design Services. Our artists are so talented and make the process easy for us and our customers!<\/p>\n Inker Jay Holton from the Allen, Texas store created the winning design for the Western region.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n CI: What did your team think about having custom gear from this fundraiser?<\/b><\/p>\n AH: <\/b>The team couldn’t be more excited about this. It’s been amazing for me to see so many people involved in creating designs (all of which were fantastic), helping to get this organized, and just running with it. There is nothing more exciting to me than seeing an engaged team and what they are capable of doing!<\/p>\n CI: What do you hope that this fundraiser can achieve?<\/b><\/p>\n AH: <\/b>I hope this fundraiser and shirt design can start conversations and help us connect with the communities we’re in while raising funds for a noble cause. As a channel, I think it is vital for us to lead in Diversity and Inclusion and reflect the communities we’re a part of. We cannot succeed in our mission to become a trusted, sought-after partner within the community without building long-term relationships in the surrounding areas of our stores. This fundraiser is only a small part of us working towards that objective.<\/p>\n CI: Is there anything else you\u2019d like to share?<\/b><\/p>\n AH:<\/b> I would just like to thank again all the Inkers involved in this process. Our front-line team is truly the one who makes things happen within the organization. I really look forward to doing this again in the future to celebrate more national cause awareness months!<\/p>\n When we saw <\/span>Outdoor Afro<\/span><\/a>\u2019s Black History Month shirts we knew you needed to see them too! The national not-for-profit that inspires Black connections and leadership in nature knew that they could make a statement with custom shirts and they were right. <\/span><\/p>\n The team came to Custom Ink to make <\/span>their t-shirt series<\/span>\u00a0that bears the phrase \u201cI\u2019m Black and I ____\u201d<\/span> filling in different outdoor activities. \u201cCreating an ‘I’m Black and I _____’ series has always been something that founder and CEO, Rue Mapp, wanted to do. So, go ahead and dispel those, “Black people don’t [insert outdoor activity here] and declare your love for your Blackness AND love of the outdoors!\u201d They also have a shirt that celebrates historically Black beaches Idlewild, Sag Harbor, American Beach, and The Inkwell.<\/span><\/p>\n As part of their Black history celebration, the team highlighted Black historical figures and locations that are known for their involvement with outdoor recreation throughout the month. Their list includes mountaineer Charles Madison Crenshaw, the first Black man to summit Denali; Will \u2018Akuna\u2019 Robinson, the first Black man to hike the Triple Crown; and Florida\u2019s first Black resort, American Beach.<\/span><\/p>\n We reached out to Yanira Castro, Communications Director for Outdoor Afro, to learn more about the organization and its own history. She told us, \u201cOutdoor Afro was founded by Rue Mapp as a kitchen table blog about her outdoor activities out of her Oakland home. She had a love for the outdoors through her parents, who had left the Jim Crow South in the 1940s and built a rural paradise north of Oakland.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Custom performance tank<\/a> \u201cThe blog came about after she noticed that she didn\u2019t always see a lot of other Black\u00a0 Americans enjoying the outdoors or see many representations of that in advertising. When interest in the blog began to pick up, she put out a call for more Black leaders to begin guiding outdoor trips and people responded.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n The organization sells custom gear from Custom Ink through their website because it can help them engage and inspire their audience. \u201cCustom gear helps us to promote who we are and what we do. It allows people to share their love of Outdoor Afro.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe have bought a number of products from Custom Ink including totes<\/a>, beanies<\/a>, sweatshirts<\/a>, and t-shirts<\/a>. We chose products based on what our community was asking for and products that are useful in the outdoors and ways to show people\u2019s love of Outdoor Afro. Our latest campaign is about declaring your love for your Blackness and for nature.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n They also know that choosing the right products for their audience is important. That\u2019s why they offer custom <\/span>athletic tanks<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>water bottles<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>face masks<\/span><\/a>, and <\/span>hoodies<\/span><\/a> in addition to <\/span>t-shirts<\/span><\/a>, all perfect for the outdoors.<\/span><\/p>\n Product shown: Bella + Canvas Ultra Soft Pullover Hoodie<\/a>Photo credit: Tiffany Womack<\/p><\/div>\n Their logo, a silhouette of a person\u2019s head with a tree growing in it, is simple and eye-catching. \u201cOur logo was designed by artist Jeremy Collins in 2015. Founder and CEO Rue Mapp and Jeremy were KEEN ambassadors together. On a retreat, he convinced Rue that the old logo (which was a character of her) was not representing the breadth of what Outdoor Afro was about! She was skeptical, but the version Jeremy came up with was incredible and very close to what we use today.\u201d The rest of their design vision is led by their CEO, along with input from their 82 volunteer leaders.<\/span><\/p>\n We asked what advice she\u2019d give to someone else in her field who is thinking about getting custom gear and Yanira said:<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cUnderstand what your community wants, just not want you want. Find a great partner who understands your needs and is willing to become a partner to you, like Custom Ink! Set up your promotion, distribution, and fulfillment options, There are so many ways to go about this, so explore all your options. Additionally, make sure you have a customer service mechanism in place.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n \u201cAt the end of the day, Outdoor Afro is a love story. And we are so happy that the community that we have built over the past 11 years has grown to more than 40K people that we connect to the outdoors on a consistent basis.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n Celebrate Black History Month by purchasing one of Outdoor Afro\u2019s shirts or head over to our site to create your own custom celebration gear. Get a design boost with our <\/span>Black History Month template library<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n Since its inception, <\/span>Because of Them We Can<\/span><\/a> has evolved into a movement to celebrate Black history and excellence all year long. Here is its story.<\/span> In January 2013, photographer and mother of two Eunique Jones Gibson sat in her kitchen watching her son, Chase, shadowboxing. It was the eve of Black History Month and close to the one year anniversary of Trayvon Martin\u2019s death, and she says, \u201cas a mother with two Black sons I was wrestling with feelings of hope and fear.\u201d As she watched Chase, she stopped seeing him as her son and started to visualize him as a little Muhammad Ali. \u201cI thought of how he didn\u2019t even know who Ali was,\u201d she remembers, \u201cand boom, the idea was born.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Gibson envisioned a photography series that would celebrate Black history and focus on educating and exciting young people. She would outfit children like prominent Black leaders, photograph them, and pair those photos with quotes. The tagline would be a phrase across the bottom of every image: the words \u201cBecause of him we can\u201d or \u201cBecause of her we can.\u201d That campaign, depicting 28 history-makers, including Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, filmmaker Spike Lee, and of course, Muhammad Ali would launch that February to immediate success. <\/span>Within six months, Gibson was able to leave her job to run the organization full time.<\/span><\/p>\n At the advice of her trademark attorney, Gibson simplified the message to \u201cBecause Of Them We Can\u201d and began working on ideas for how to expand the impact of the concept beyond the initial photography campaign. She wanted to both get <\/span>the word out and raise money, so she turned to the <\/span>Custom Ink Fundraising platform<\/span><\/a> to make the organization\u2019s first t-shirts. \u201cIf you have a message that you want to share or amplify, a t-shirt is a great way to do it,\u201d she says.<\/span><\/p>\n Her initial design idea was simply to use the same name and typeset she\u2019d used in the photos, and it worked well. The shirt was bold, and it got attention. <\/span>While that fundraiser was small, it was a success.<\/span><\/a> She says having a great t-shirt was instrumental in how well the campaign did. \u201cIt was a big deal because we were able to create brand advocates in the people who were excited about the movement. They began wearing the t-shirts and sharing the message.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The original design from the photo series and Gibson\u2019s first fundraiser shirt using a version of that design.<\/p><\/div>\n That fundraiser not only proved that the idea had more potential, but it also gave Gibson a chance to see what worked and what didn\u2019t. While the shirts were popular and looked good, she felt they could be even better with an official logo.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAs a marketer by trade, I knew that having a strong logo was extremely important. I wanted something simple yet bold.\u201d It also needed to look just as good on a t-shirt or a hoodie as it would on her photos, website, and social media.<\/span><\/p>\n It didn\u2019t take her long to design the logo. <\/span>She sorted through hundreds of fonts until she found the one that felt right. <\/span>\u201c<\/span>I sort of just played around with different fonts against a black square until I landed on something that I thought was simple and clean.\u201d Then, she ran it by her husband, a graphic designer. \u201cOnce he approved, I knew I was good to go.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Eunique Jones Gibson wearing her logo t-shirt and the logo she designed<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n For the next run of t-shirts, she would use the new logo and add the first names of some of the influential Black leaders who had inspired her. She felt like it helped convey what \u2018Because of Them We Can\u2019 meant. She says, \u201cPeople would see the [original] shirt and ask, \u2018Because of them we can, what? And who\u2019s them?\u2019 So, I thought that adding names of some of the trailblazers we were referencing would help onlookers understand exactly what we meant. And it worked.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a>Spotlight on Outdoor Afro<\/u><\/h3>\n
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Photo: Courtesy of Outdoor Afro<\/p><\/div>\n<\/a>
Photo: Courtesy of Outdoor Afro<\/p><\/div>\n<\/a>Spotlight on Because of Them We Can<\/u><\/h3>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>Try these tips to start your own t-shirt fundraiser<\/div>\n\n
Pick a great cause and a name.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n