off and running: offyourbackshirts.com

Indigena, First Thursdays, South End Open Market, and more

2007-08-08T07:32:00.000-05:00

So much has happened in the last two months since I've posted:

Indigena in Jamaica Plain, MA (42 South St.) has started carrying many of our shirts. Indigena carries locally made, handcrafted, fair trade, and just already funky items that make you think, "there's someone I have to buy that for!" Check out their store, buy a Off Your Back Shirt, and tell we sent you! :)

As I posted previously, we have been at the South End Open Market in Boston, MA on select summer dates. It's a great place to find some of the best artistic or hand crafted items I've seen anywhere. We'll be there again on Aug. 19th.

Two weeks ago, we were a proud sponsor of First Thursdays movie, "Big", in Jamaica Plain. First Thursdays is organized by JP Centre/South Main Streets. Several hundred people came out to see the movie!

Media related to sweatshops and fair trade part 2: Black Gold

2007-06-07T11:38:00.000-05:00

As I continue my series on various media related to sweatshops and fair trade I wanted to highlight a movie I've seen several times recently: Black Gold. Off Your Back Shirts and The Well (www.thewelljp.org) a Boston house church has sponsored showings of the movie around the Boston area (The Boston Fair Trade Festival and showings at Harvard Law School and Boston University).

Black Gold is a documentary about Ethiopian coffee and fair trade. It's a fascinating look into the coffee commodities market, the role of the local farmer, and us as consumers of coffee. Well worth seeing! The movie ends with a short implied attack on the WTO (World Trade Organization) and unjust trading policies by western countries. If you've ever wondered where your coffee comes from this movie is for you.

comics and videos related to fair trade and sweatshops part 1

2007-05-30T12:35:00.000-05:00

Cow & Boy
by Mark Leiknes

Over the coming weeks I will be putting links and images to comics and videos related to fair trade and sweatshops. Here's the first...not sure where this came from...it was a forward from a friend.

Off Your Back Shirts at the South End Open Market

2007-05-29T08:20:00.000-05:00

Off Your Back Shirts will be at the South End Open Market on various dates throughout the summer. Come check us out!

We will be there:
June 24th
July 15th
August 19th
September 23rd

The South End Open Market is Sunday's throughout the summer, 10am-4pm at 540 Harrison Ave. in the South End. For more info visit: http://southendopenmarket.com/

A link related to child slavery and chocolate

2007-05-14T11:19:00.000-05:00

A friend rightly challenged me to provide some background info when I mention "rumors". I didn't only because I didn't have much time to write that blog post and actually did have some info sheets on the subject. He, however, did provide me with one link related to it: http://www.organicconsumers.org/fair_trade/slavechocolate060414.cfm

Check it out.

Equal Exchange - the best milk chocolate?

2007-05-13T11:23:00.000-05:00

While companies like Godiva and Nestle are rumored to get chocolate sourced from areas that employ children sold into slavery, there is another option. Equal Exhange sells fairly traded chocolate, among other things.

This weekend, I tried their milk chocolate bar which has a touch of hazelnuts. I had tried all their other flavors - espresso bean, dark chocolate, dark mint - but never their milk chocolate. Let's just say, soon after I was sick because of the amount I ate. You can go ahead and choose your hershey bar, but now I think I've found my true chocolate love: the Equal Exchange organic milk chocolate bar.

Looking behind the fair trade label

2007-05-08T07:10:00.000-05:00

Check out this radio broadcast on looking behind the Fair Trade label and the recent Ethopian coffee property rights issue.

An open letter to the Boston City Council: Make Boston a fair trade city!

2007-05-07T10:06:00.000-05:00

I've had the honor of meeting several of the current city councilors and have been impressed. From Councilor Arroyo's commitment to the poor and social change -which I have seen evident both one on one and in meetings- to Councilor Ross -who I've played basketball with and saw him connect with local teenagers- (he's not that bad by the way), our current city council is both diverse, committed, and active.

It's to this impressive group that I write this open letter. Make Boston a fair trade city. Throughout Europe and much of England there has been an increasing commitment to fair trade. Entire communities are dedicating themselves as fair trade cities and townships. In honor of World Fair Trade Day on May 12th, let's make Boston one of the first in the United States.

As a part of World Fair Trade Day on May 12th, local and national fair trade businesses and organizations are coming together for the Boston Fair Trade Festival (www.bostonfairtradeday.org). City Councilor Felix Arroyo has already shown his support by not only planning on attending but by speaking at the event.

Fair trade, in the simplest of terms, is fair wages for work done, especially related to global trade. Fair trade is most known in the realm of coffee production, where certification exists to show the consumer that certain standards were in place for the production and sale of the coffee. Increasingly, major coffee sellers are releasing a fair trade blend, meaning one or more of the blends of coffee have been certified to meet fair trade standards. Starbucks, Green Mountain Coffee, McDonalds (select locations) and Dunkin Donuts all have some fair trade offerings. Many other smaller - fair trade specific coffee companies also exist (many in the Boston/Massachusetts area). Equal Exchange is a worker owned company that has been in the fair trade coffee business for decades. Dean’s Beans, another Massachusetts based company, also specializes in fair trade coffee.

Fair trade coffee is also the coffee of choice of an increasing number of cafes in Boston. From my local favorite,City Feed and Supply on Boylston St. in Jamaica Plain, to Sweet Christophers or Canto 6 - fair trade coffee is becoming increasingly popular at local establishments.

I believe Boston can help lead the way in our nation as a city that recognizes human rights as an essential basis for all our actions - from housing to education to ethical purchasing. Choosing fair trade is saying that human rights extends beyond the geography of our city to those we rely on for our essential goods and services. We have livable wages for city employees. Now, let's demand more livable wages for those who provide us with the items we have become so used to.

As a first step, I call on the Boston City Council to require all city agencies to make all future purchases of coffee be from fair trade certified options. The costs of fair trade coffee is not that much more expensive than other coffee options but often it means the difference between sending a child to elementary school or not for many small scale coffee farmers. Boston can extend our own standards of human rights and livable wages beyond our borders to those who are often invisible or even ignored.

There are other steps that can be taken in helping Boston truly become a fair trade city. But, this can and will be an important first step in moving our city in that direction. Further options can include also mandating that when fair trade options are available city departments can and should choose fair trade.

Together, let's make Boston a fair trade city!

the best boston sandwich

2007-05-02T16:27:00.000-05:00

so this is only lightly related to fair trade. But, I have to tell you about what I believe is one of the best sandwiches anywhere to be found. It's the #1 at City Feed and Supply on Boylston St. in Jamaica Plain, MA. It's a brioche roll, green leaf lettuce, smoked (nitrate free) turkey, vermont smoked cheddar, marinated red onions, pesto, mayo, and a special red pepper relish (non-spicy). I used to work at City Feed and tried to get them to name it after me (The Paul)...it didn't take.

Why don't you go there and order "the paul" and see what happens?

:)

oh, and it's loosely fair trade because they sell fair trade bananas and coffee and this is where I had the first significant exposure to fair trade!

Boston goes fair trade

2007-05-02T15:41:00.001-05:00

May 12th is World Fair Trade Day, a day set aside each year around the globe to raise awareness of fair trade. Fair trade, in the simplest of terms, is fair wages for work done, especially related to global trade.

This year, Boston is joining the chorus of voices around the world for fair trade at the Boston Fair Trade Festival on Saturday, May 12th at 440 Centre St., Jamaica Plain. The event, sponsored by offyourbackshirts.com and coolpeoplecare.org will include a fair trade market (buy your last minute mother’s day gifts here!), speakers, advocacy groups (like Oxfam and the ONE Campaign), and free fair trade coffee, bananas, chocolate, and tea. The day will end with a community potluck and a showing of the movie, “Black Gold” a documentary about fair trade coffee (which by the way, you can’t rent so see it why you can). You can get more information at http://bostonfairtradeday.org.

Fair trade is most known in the realm of coffee production, where certification exists to show the consumer that certain standards were in place for the production and sale of the coffee. Increasingly, major coffee sellers are releasing a fair trade blend, meaning one or more of the blends of coffee have been certified to meet fair trade standards. Starbucks has a fair trade blend. Green Mountain Coffee does as well. Even Dunkin Donuts sells fair trade espresso beverages and selected McDonalds in the Northeast only sell fair trade coffee.

Many other smaller - fair trade specific coffee companies also exist (many in the Boston/Massachusetts area). Equal Exchange is a worker owned company that has been in the fair trade coffee business for decades. Dean’s Beans, another Massachusetts based company, also specializes in fair trade coffee. Fair trade coffee is also the coffee of choice of an increasing number of cafes. My local favorite is City Feed and Supply on Boylston St. in Jamaica Plain. City Feed sells only Equal Exchange coffee, by the cup or in bulk (they also make amazing sandwiches - try the #1).

Several new fair trade businesses have also popped up in the area.

* The web-based business, Off Your Back Shirts started last year in Jamaica Plain. They offer t-shirts and other products that are made under just and socially conscious standards - from recycled clothing, to organic cotton t-shirts and winter hats, to fair trade t-shirts. Off Your Back Shirts is the primary sponsor of the Boston Fair Trade Festival.
* Crossroads Trade opened up a year or so ago on Harvard St. in Coolidge Corner, Brookline. Crossroads has a wide variety of crafts and gifts.
* Oke USA, one of the few fair trade banana companies in the United States, opened up shop in Watertown. They promote fair trade bananas to be sold in grocery stores and other places.

There are many more in the area but for the sake of time and space I will stop here.

Boston, you have fair trade options. Buy fair trade. The world will be better for it.

Off Your Back makes top 12 list on a t-shirt blog for places to submit t-shirt ideas

2007-05-01T15:52:00.000-05:00

Off Your Back Shirt was recently featured as one of the top 12 places to submit t-shirt designs on OMG Tees. Check out the blog entry and the nice remarks about Off Your Back Shirts, here.

Check it out: some great events this week

2007-04-23T21:24:00.000-05:00

If you're in the Boston area you may want to check out one or both of these events Off Your Back Shirts will be at:

1. April 25th -Join One at BU for a showing of the movie ‘Black Gold’ about fair trade coffee at Boston University at 6pm with special guests to facilitate discussion afterwards. The event will be held at the GSU Conference Auditorium, 775 Commonwealth Ave, Room 228, Boston, MA 02215. Off Your Back Shirts is helping sponsor this event.

2. April 26th 10-3:00pm - MIT's Earth Day Celebration The MIT Earth Day Fair this year celebrates Local Connections, featuring over 40 fun displays by both MIT initiatives and local community projects along with many other activities. Several campus groups have collaborated to make this the largest and most memorable MIT Earth Day yet. All-day events include:

* The MIT Mini-Landfill and recycling displays
* Giveaways of mugs and green plants
* Recycling drives for
o Old tech waste e.g. old media, handhelds, peripherals, toner and ink jet cartridges - *no monitors, please*
o Bring used books and clothing for reuse or recycling
* Vehicle displays from Zipcar and PlanetTran
* Free and green food
* Over 40 exhibitors on current, local environmental initiatives (including Off Your Back Shirts)

Press Release: Off Your Back Shirts launches t-shirts made out of recycled plastic!

2007-04-20T06:50:00.000-05:00

Recycle(d)
online business offers t-shirts made out of recycled cotton and plastic bottles.

Boston, MA, Off Your Back Shirts introduces new recycled t-shirts in time for Earth Day.

Clothing styles are constantly changing. As consumers follow new fashion trends, it is estimated that the average American throws away about 68 pounds of clothing per year to make room in their closet.

On top of that, producing new clothes out of cotton hurts the planet. A cotton T-shirt and a pair of jeans requires 1 pound of fertilizers and pesticides. The cotton t-shirt alone requires 1/3 pound of fertilizers. These chemicals often end up in water supplies and the food chain since many products have cotton seed oil in them and livestock are often fed with feed produced with parts of the cotton plant.

An increasing number of consumers want to shop with a “do no harm” attitude – that is – that their purchases would do no harm to people or the planet. In response, there is a growing trend of eco-fashion that is more hip than hippy.

“Our recycled shirts are soft and comfy and are made in the USA,” says Daigle the founder and owner of offyourbackshirts.com. The shirts, “recycle(d)” and “3 trees” (designed by local artist Amy Stout) are made out of 50% recycled post-industrial cotton and 50% recycled plastic bottles – as polyester. “We started this company with a desire to offer products that not only look good, but that you can feel good about wearing. These shirts embody that desire.”

To further prove its commitment to the environment, Off Your Back Shirts joined 1% for the Planet, an organization of like-minded businesses that promise to donate at least 1% of gross sales to environmental causes. “It's a double win for us. We provide people with great shirts they can feel good about and in, and we can contribute to the future of our planet at the same time." Daigle says.

For more information contact:

Paul Daigle
President, Off Your Back Shirts
617-283-8453
paul@offyourbackshirts.com

Boston Fair Trade Day

2007-04-12T14:45:00.000-05:00

You may or may not know, but May 12th is World Fair Trade Day. Off Your Back Shirts is helping promote fair trade by organizing events around the Boston area for this day.

To help with this, we've launched, bostonfairtradeday.org. Check this site out for information on various events we'll be sponsoring/helping promote related to World Fair Trade Day.

We have events already scheduled for April 21st, April 25th, and May 12th (a big one).

Fair trade, organic cotton, tshirt, sweatshop free, t-shirt, t-shirts, ethical shopping, organic clothing, cool people care, world fair trade day

Cool People Care

2007-04-12T14:36:00.000-05:00

I'm excited to tell you about a new(ish) website that we have started to work with: Cool People Care - coolpeoplecare.org. Cool People Care (instead of 'mean people suck')is the place to go if you want to make a difference in the world!

Each day there is a "5 Minutes of Caring" email that, in 99 words or less, tells you something you can do in under 5 minutes. There is also a weekly article on the site for those of us with more time to change the world.

The site also has a community calendar for each city/community the site is in (currently 5 - including Nashville and Boston). You can go under events and choose your city or you can register with the site and have it always automatically go to your city/location. The events posted are all socially conscious in nature - from lectures on the environment to homeless shelter fundraisers to volunteer recruitement for a local non-profit.

Off Your Back Shirts will be helping promote Cool People Care in the Boston area and they in turn will be helping promote us through their website. It's a nice deal for both of us.

Fair trade, organic cotton, tshirt, sweatshop free, t-shirt, t-shirts, ethical shopping, organic clothing, cool people care

new shirts coming

2007-04-10T06:12:00.000-05:00

We hope to have several (maybe even 3) new shirts around the time of earth day. Stay tuned.

Going Bananas for fair trade

2007-04-04T10:40:00.000-05:00

Love bananas? Love fair trade? Check out Oke bananas. They work with farmers to provide fair trade pricing for bananas and then work on distributing them in grocery stores and the like.

wi-fi blocking paint

2007-04-03T21:43:00.000-05:00

So, this has nothing to do with Off Your Back Shirts or fair trade for that matter, but it's worth checking out:

Wi-fi blocking paint!

What people are saying about our shirts...

2007-04-02T15:15:00.001-05:00

hey paul and off your back shirts, i just got my 3 shirts in the mail, and i have to say THEY ARE EVERYTHING I HOPED THEY WOULD BE AND MORE.

the designs are fantastic and the fabric quality TOP NOTCH. these will surely be some of the shirts i wear most often, well worth what i paid for them.

i just wanted to say thank you so much, and keep up the good work, soon as word gets around you will be selling a ton of these!

cheers, thanks again for making awesome clothing

-BW (www.myspace.com/evenkelsey)

New products on the site

2007-03-19T15:24:00.000-05:00

Check out the new products on the site. We now have a new blank, black, organic and fair trade shirt and two different organic, sweatshop free beanies (winter hats) up on the site. We've also updated the homepage slightly. If you are using Firefox you will need to clear your cache and then refresh to notice the changes. Let us know what you think.

Affiliates

2007-03-16T17:17:00.000-05:00

Off Your Back Shirts has just launched an affiliate marketing program. If you have a website you can now join our program and earn cash for each sale generated when someone comes from your site.

Our main affiliate program offers 15% commission for each sale generated.

If you are a non-profit you can apply for our non-profit program which offers 20% commission.

To sign up click here.

For more info, email info-at-offyourbackshirts.com.

NEW: Submit a video to Off Your Back Shirts

2007-03-14T12:15:00.000-05:00

Are you creative and want to put that creativity to good use? Care about fair trade and sweatshop free products? Make a video featuring Off Your Back Shirts. Off Your Back Shirts sells organic, sweatshop free, and fair trade apparel and donates a portion of profits to poverty and the environment. If we like your video, we will give you a $100 gift certificate to our website and feature the video on our main site and our blog.

For more info visit:
http://www.offyourbackshirts.com/store/fun.php#submitvideo

Fair trade, organic cotton, tshirt, sweatshop free, t-shirt, t-shirts, ethical shopping, organic clothing
YouTube

Pi Day

2007-03-14T08:00:00.000-05:00

You may not have heard yet, but today is Pi Day (3/14/07) one of several days during the year when fans of Pi get to glory in the number that is 3.1415....

One of these links says acceptance letters to MIT are actually sent out on one 'pi' day each year. My wife works there. I'll need to ask her about it.

Check these links out:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pi_day

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070312/ap_on_fe_st/the_church_of_pi

MIT, organic cotton, tshirt, sweatshop free, t-shirt, t-shirts, ethical shopping, pi

New products for the website

2007-03-13T19:05:00.000-05:00

We will soon be offerring a few new products on the website. We'll be offering a plain black organic and fair trade t-shirt. We have limited sizes and will be selling these at near wholesale prices. These shirts are made by the women's cooperative, Nueva Vida, which I've mentioned in a previous post.

We will also be offering two new items that are not t-shirts! They are organic, sweatshop free beanies. Check them out and tell us what you think.

Fair trade, organic cotton, tshirt, sweatshop free, t-shirt, t-shirts, ethical shopping, organic clothing

United Students for Fair Trade continued...

2007-03-08T20:31:00.000-05:00

Another great vendor and sponsor at the USFT conference was Fair Trade Sports. They offer fair trade sports balls/equipment. It's a very new company, but I was very impressed with their branding identity and their products. And, the owner of the company was great! Fair Trade Sports also donates all their after tax profits to children's related causes. Check them out!

Fair Trade Sports

Fair Trade Sports United Students for Fair Trade Fair trade, organic cotton, tshirt, sweatshop free, t-shirt, t-shirts, ethical shopping, organic clothing

International Women's Day - Let Girls Fly a Kite

2007-03-08T16:29:00.000-05:00

Today, March 8th, 2007 is International Women's Day - a day set aside to the rights and voices of women around our world. The International Women's Day website says:

"So make a difference, think globally and act locally !! Make everyday International Women's Day. Do your bit to ensure that the future for girls is bright, equal, safe and rewarding." For more info visit: http://www.internationalwomensday.com
.

There's lots of things you can do the raise the awareness of women's needs throughout the world. One thing you can do is purchase the "Let Girls Fly a Kite" shirt which was made to help raise the awareness of the needs of women and girls in India and specifically the issue of female infanticide and feticide in India. "Millions of women are missing from the Indian population from female infant mortality and the practice of gender-specific abortion. Gender ratios are catastrophically skewed, and in some areas, there are less than 700 women to every 1,000 men." (from the Project Kite website). All of the profits from this shirt are being donated to Cry, a program working with women and girls in India. Buy the shirt. Support a great cause. Wear the shirt. And, raise the awareness of the needs of women and girls around the world.

Project Kite International Women's Day Fair trade, organic cotton, tshirt, sweatshop free, t-shirt, t-shirts, ethical shopping, organic clothing

Fair Trade - Free Trade

2007-03-07T09:39:00.000-05:00

So, I can't tell you the number of times in a conversation with someone that the terms fair trade and free trade are mixed up. Although I'll probably write more about this at another time, I did find a post on another blog that broke it down nicely.

Check it out: http://lifescapemagazine.typepad.com/greentipster/2007/03/fair_or_free.html

Facebook and Myspace

2007-03-02T10:08:00.000-05:00

If you haven't already done so, check out our facebook group and our myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/offyourbackshirts. Just another way to be connected to what we're doing.

Our environmental practices

2007-02-28T14:43:00.000-05:00

I recently compiled a list of Off Your Back Shirts' earth friendly practices. I thought I would share them here.

1. Offer only organic cotton products and recycled t-shirts (50/50 plastic bottles, cotton).
2. We joined 1% for the Planet, thereby promising to donate at least 1% of our sales to environmental causes. Each year, we provide financial statements to 1% for the Planet to verify these contributions.
3. We use only 100% recycled paper for all our in house computer printing.
4. We primarily use only 100% recycled paper goods (i.e. toilet paper, facial tissues, and paper towels).
5. We have replaced all traditional home office lighting with CFL (compact fluorescent lamp) bulbs.
6. We do much of our work electronically so as not to use ink or paper. When we do print internal documents, we often do so in draft mode to conserve ink.
7. We recycle all ink cartridges.
8. All flyers and business cards were printed on partially recycled paper and with soy-based inks.
9. We recycle all allowable items (paper, plastics, etc.).
10. All computers are set on power saver modes to conserve energy.
11. We keep all computer peripheral devices turned off unless needed.
12. We keep the heat set low.
13. Travel is done on foot whenever possible. When other transportation needed we use the MBTA or a vehicle that gets 40mpg.
14. We have installed water conservation devices on all water faucets.
15. We regularly check on sites like coolpeoplecare.org and treehugger.com for additional conservation/earth friendly practices.

Fair trade, organic cotton, tshirt, sweatshop free, t-shirt, t-shirts, ethical shopping, organic clothing, Environmentally friendly business practices

United Students for Fair Trade pt. 1

2007-02-28T09:46:00.000-05:00

So, I'm finally getting around to writing about the United Students for Fair Trade event. The event was pretty amazing - great speakers, workshops, and highly committed people! Over the coming days, I'd like to highlight a few things I learned or other fair trade companies I found out about.

Freeset Bags is one company worth mentioning. It's not organic cotton t-shirts, but this is equally (or even more) as cool. Freeset provided the conference bags for the event. Our bags came printed with the USFT event info, but it was the tag on the bag that really caught my attention. It says:

This Freeset Bag tells a story of one woman's journey to freedom. She used to stand with 6,000 other prostitutes in a small but well known area of North Calcutta. She didn't choose her profession it chose her. Poverty does that. It robs people of their dignity and children of their innocence.

She still lives in the same area, but instead of selling her body she makes Freeset bags. Now she has choices, the choice to work decent hours for decent pay, to re-establish her dignity in her community and to learn to read and write. Now her daughter won't have to stand in the street selling her body like she did. Freedom has been passed on to the next generation.

By purchasing this Freeset Bag, you have become part of the story of freedom. Thank you!

After visiting Freeset's website, I was even more impressed. To hear some of their story visit www.freesetbags.com. To purchase some of their amazing bags - and yes, they carry a wide selection of attractive bags including carrier bags - visit these two sites: www.ashaimports.com and Ashai's e-bay store. Not only can one legitimately call these bags fair trade, but their well made, attractive, and you can feel good that it is providing alternatives to women who have few options for their lives!

Fair trade, organic cotton, tshirt, sweatshop free, t-shirt, t-shirts, ethical shopping, organic clothing

Organic and sweatshop free products

2007-02-26T19:03:00.000-05:00

Over the coming weeks we will be working towards expanding our current product offerings. As our homepage says, we desire to be "your online source for organic, sweatshop free, and fair trade apparel". So far we started with just t-shirts - but we'll be offering more soon. We hope to be offering new items every week. Stay tuned!

Hayden Panettiere and the POW! T-shirt

2007-02-25T16:08:00.000-05:00

This weekend I went to the New York City Comic Con. I can honestly say that I have never seen anything quite like this before. Lots of people dressed up in spandex! Pretty wild!

Hayden Panettiere from the hit NBC TV show Heroes was there. I gave her a copy of the POW! t-shirt made from genuine 100% organic cotton (as seen above). I had hoped to get a photo of her with it, but photos weren't allowed at that point in the day. Maybe we'll see her in it sometime in the media.

Pow, Hayden Panettiere, Heroes, Fair trade, organic cotton, tshirt, sweatshop free, t-shirt, t-shirts, ethical shopping, organic clothing

Meeting some of the folks who made your t-shirt

2007-02-22T20:34:00.000-05:00

I have a lot of thoughts from the United Students for Fair Trade conference. Probably one of the cooler moments was having someone fromNueva Vida in Nicaragua point to some of our shirts and say she helps make them. Nueva Vida is a worker owned company. Our "Let Girls Fly a Kite" men's shirt and our "Lift your conscience" shirt are both printed on their organic and fair trade t-shirts.

Later, two other individuals came by the Off Your Back Shirts table and told me they also worked for a time at Nueva Vida. I got to hear even more first hand about how the shirts are made (including finding out that cutting organic cotton material is harder than non-organic).

Check out Nueva Vida. Although the site isn't set up for ordering retail...there's a lot on their site concerning their story and how their workers get paid more than many of the other local Nicaraguans who work in garment factories.

We may soon be offering their organic, fair trade men's black t-shirts in select sizes in our "blank"
section of our website. I've been asked by many to offer more fair trade/sweatshop free blank t-shirts as well - so I may soon use our remaining inventory of black shirts to help make that happen.

Name Tag blog

2007-02-21T13:27:00.000-05:00

Check out my guest blog over at the Name Tag Social Experiment:
http://nametag.neighborsforneighbors.org/

Coming soon...

2007-02-21T09:38:00.000-05:00

In the coming days I hope to write about some of my experiences at the United Students for Fair Trade annual convergence. It was an amazing time, and I have lots of thoughts to share about the event and fair trade. I hope to do so in the coming days/weeks.

Also, I'll be sharing soon about some new products we'll be offering - beyond t-shirts. Stay tuned.

paul

Six Degrees

2007-02-21T09:29:00.000-05:00

Have you noticed the charity badge on the right side of this blog? It's a cool new way you can help raise funds for organizations you care about via your own websites/blogs. Head on over to sixdegrees.org and find out more. It takes about 10 minutes to setup your badge and get it on your site.

I chose two organizations to highlight on my badge (you can do one or several). The first (although titled Emmanuel Gospel Center because it is part of this larger organization) is related to the organization called Starlight that I volunteered, worked with as staff, and then directed. Starlight has been serving Boston's long-term homeless community for 16 years now. While there, I helped launch a program that also focuses on homeless and runaway youth and young adults - now wonderfully headed up by a good friend of mine. They are a great group that's doing the hard work of being in the trenches day in and day out with little recognition or support. If you're able, I encourage you to support their work.

The other organization I have listed is the Save Darfur Coalition. I could go on for a while related to the Darfur crisis but I'll simply say this: something must be done. Donating to Save Darfur Coalition is one way you can raise your voice against the genocide that is happening there.

The Boston ONE Campaign does email shout out to Off Your Back Shirts

2007-02-18T08:33:00.000-05:00

Check out this little plug for us in the Boston ONE Campaign's email update. Thanks for the good words!

Hi all,

As we head into the holiday weekend, we want to update you on several key events around the Boston area that in keeping with the ONE Campaign's mission...we also want to introduce you to an amazing new local company, OFF YOUR BACK SHIRTS, owned by Paul Daigle, one of ONE Boston's dearest volunteers....[message shorten]

OFF YOUR BACK SHIRTS
www.offyourbackshirts.com

This is your new online source for organic, sweatshop free and fair trade apparel. Off Your Back Shirts' mission is to be a socially conscious business that sells clothing people love. They are located in Jamaica Plain and not only are their t-shirts soft and stylin', but the messaging is witty and cutting edge. We love OFF YOUR BACK SHIRTS and we hope you will too - they have been unbelievable supporters of the ONE Campaign and they are living out their commitment to ending global poverty in their business practices - a portion of all sales (between 5-10%) will be donated to youth, environmental and poverty causes. Check out OFF YOUR BACK SHIRTS this weekend at the United Students for Fair Trade Convergence.

Notes on the nametag shirts

2007-02-18T08:24:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm 2/3 of the way through the United Students for Fair Trade conference. It's been great! Meeting others who are passionate about fair trade - whether brand new to the movement or old timers - is pretty incredible. I'll have thoughts to share about fair trade, the conference, and related stuff in coming days. I'm facilitating a workshop today on taking the fair trade movement more mainstream.

In other news, wanted to provide some technical notes related to the new name tag shirts here. We'll start providing info with each shirt sold as well. As you've probably noticed, the new name tag shirts are meant to be written on. Based on our experience the mens shirts (the Sign at the X and the Name Tag shirt) require you to use fabric markers or pens which can be bought at any craft store. The womans version seems to handle black, brown, green sharpies (fine point seems to work nicely) as well...but our suggestion is that if you want to be safe, stay with the fabric markers/paint. On the mens shirts the sharpie's leak.

You'll be hearing more about the name tag shirts in the coming days as well! Stay tuned.

paul

New shirts on the website

2007-02-16T10:21:00.000-05:00

Our 2 new mens shirts and one new womens shirt are up on the website. Check them out:

Sign at the X

The Name Tag Shirt - Mens

The Name Tag Shirt - Womens

Happy Day After Valentine's Day

2007-02-15T12:42:00.000-05:00

Happy Day-after-corporate-America-inspired-artificially-romanticized-holiday, i.e. Happy February 15th! Whether you got into the spirit of the Hallmark inspired holiday or are just excited for the sales on chocolate you’ll find today (like I am), we wanted to give you a little something extra to smile about. In honor of the 15th of February we are taking $1.50 off of every shirt in our online store through February 21st.

your friends at off your back shirts-
www.offyourbackshirts.com

United Students for Fair Trade event this weekend

2007-02-15T09:46:00.000-05:00

In the midst of the busyness of preparing for the United Students for Fair trade event this weekend, I was interviewed by someone from Northeastern University's student newspaper about the event and the role college students can play in the fair trade movement.

To read the article: nu.news.com

Fair trade, organic cotton, tshirt, sweatshop free, t-shirt, t-shirts, ethical shopping, organic clothing

Can I have a massage with my t-shirt?

2007-02-13T12:35:00.000-05:00

Recently a friend of mine visited a local massage therapist after hurting her back from falling down a flight of stairs. She was wearing one of our t-shirts and they began to talk about Off Your Back Shirts. The result: he decided he would help promote our company by talking about us in his next email newsletter. He was impressed with our desire to make a difference while doing business and felt that good companies like ours need to be talked about more.

Below is the text (and photo above) he included about us in his last email. Oh, and I should also mention that I also visited him and can safely say it was probably the best massage I've had in Boston. Check him out at: http://www.craigfauchermassage.com/

Excerpt:

Green Is the New Black

So I’m skipping ahead a few holidays with this next bit, which is somewhat evocative of Earth Day…

My client base comprises such a wide spectrum of characters and professionals. I thought you’d get a kick about hearing some of their stories and activities, and I’m giving special consideration to those with a socially-conscious angle.

One of my newest clients is Paul Daigle and he left his former career in social services to save the planet and look hip doing it. His new Jamaica Plain-based biz began selling designer FAIR TRADE t-shirts made with ORGANIC materials.

Some of them have socially-conscious messages and some are just cool; none of them, however, come to us through exploitive manufacturing (i.e., sweat shops, child labor) or unsustainable and chemical-intensive raw materials farming.

Now more than ever, we vote with our wallets, so check out his Web site offyourbackshirts.com, check out his stuff, and support his effort to make our economy more just, equitable, and sustainable.

cool website

2007-02-10T16:43:00.000-05:00

Hey, checkout stumbleupon.com. It's a new site that allows you to find other sites of interest based on your own personal profile. You pick tags, i.e. if you really like sports websites you would click sports and you can get referred to well-rated sports sites. Once you've signed up - a toolbar is added to your browser to make it easy to find sites you may like or to rate a site.

Of course, you can join and rate offyourbackshirts.com with a thumbs up! :)

Florida Band Wearing Our Shirts

2007-02-09T22:55:00.000-05:00

So, many of you know that I have friends in a band called Centrevol out in LA. They often wear our shirts to shows and put flyers out. Well, here are photos from another band in Florida. Wearing our 'in with the good' shirt is lead guitarist Ben Wentworth. Ben fell in love with some of our shirts posted on our myspace site (www.myspace.com/offyourbackshirts) that weren't officially printed yet. Many myspace messages later...and now he's wearing one of our shirts, and the band includes flyers for Off Your Back Shirts with their CD's and gives them out at shows. If you or your band wants to help promote us we'll be happy to give you a discount on shirts! :)

Check out Ben's band at www.myspace.com/evenkelsey

microid: e9ba57b11df1d3bc873aa7631e83ddd7dd3f9a05

Fair trade, organic cotton, tshirt, sweatshop free, t-shirt, t-shirts, ethical shopping, organic clothing

Press Release - USFT

2007-02-07T23:40:00.000-05:00

PRESS RELEASE
Date: February 6, 2007 Paul Daigle
News Release #02-06-07 617-283-8453

Boston-based company Off Your Back Shirts Sponsors
4th Annual United Students for Fair Trade International Convergence
“Engage. Inspire. Act. Fair Trade: New Perspectives”

Off Your Back Shirts Leads Workshops on Activism and Fair Trade Issues

Boston, MA (Feb. 8th, 2007) — On February 16th, hundreds of students, activists, industry partners, non-profit organizations, fair trade enthusiasts and producer representatives from around the world will meet for the 4th Annual United Students for Fair Trade (USFT) International Convergence in Boston at Fenway High School. During the four-day conference, local Boston-based fair trade business and Convergence sponsor, Off Your Back Shirts will lead two workshops and participate in the vendor fair. Other sponsors include Equal Exchange, Green Mountain Coffee Roasting Company, OxFam America, Wild Oats Markets, and Catholic Relief Services.

“The fair trade movement is empowered by the passionate activism of students worldwide,” said Off Your Back Shirts owner, Paul Daigle. “Their idealism and advocacy challenge their campuses and everyday consumers to realize the ethical repercussions of their purchases.”

Off Your Back Shirts is a new online, Boston-based company that offers organic, sweatshop free and fair trade apparel. “With the Convergence in Boston this year, it only made sense for us to be one of their sponsors.”

Daigle, a veteran workshop presenter in other settings, will be leading two workshops. Easy Activism: Practical Steps for Changing the World – will focus on integrating activism into the daily routines of our lives. Primetime: Taking the Fair Trade Movement Mainstream will engage attendees in a discussion on how to take the fair trade movement mainstream, without losing its core values.

Convergence participants will have a variety of educational workshops, keynote speakers and skill-building exercises to choose from, all meant to facilitate open communication and mutual understanding, as well as impart practical ways to empower their local communities to purchase socially and environmentally responsible goods. Representatives from Fair Trade cooperatives throughout Central and South America, Asia and Africa will participate in the event to ensure a balanced, dialogue. USFT is planning toward a zero-waste event – participants will dine on organic, vegan meals and use paperless or recycled paper materials. Contributions will be made to offset the carbon footprint of the event as well.

For more information and to register for the USFT’s 2007 Convergence, please visit www.usft.org.

About Off Your Back Shirts
Off Your Back Shirts is a new, Boston-based socially conscious apparel company, which gives a portion of all sales to poverty and environmental causes. It’s your online source for organic, sweatshop free and fair trade apparel. Off Your Back Shirts launched in Dec. 2006. You can visit them at: www.offyourbackshirts.com or email info@offyourbackshirts.com for more information.

About United Students for Fair Trade
United Students for Fair Trade is a national network of student organizations advocating fair trade products, policies and principles. Visit www.usft.org for more information.
###

the new shirts

2007-02-07T11:00:00.000-05:00

The new shirts are in partnership with the Nametag for a Year Social Experiment being done by Neighbors for Neighbors in Boston, MA.

Here are some initial images of the two new mens shirts and one new womens shirt - all 3 are organic, sweatshop free, and fair trade certified. They'll be up on our site shortly. 10% of the proceeds of these shirts will go to Neighbors for Neighbors.

Fair trade, organic cotton, tshirt, sweatshop free, t-shirt, t-shirts, ethical shopping, organic clothing Neighbors for Neighbors

Two new mens shirts, one new womens shirt

2007-02-06T13:44:00.000-05:00

Tonight at the Neighbors for Neighbors (NFN) event, we will be releasing two new mens shirts and one new womens shirt in partnership with NFN's Name Tag Social Experiment. We'll have more on that in the near future. We're excited to be partnering with this new project and hope to have the shirts on the site shortly!

Off Your Back Shirts at Jamaica Plain's Neighbors for Neighbors event

2007-02-05T09:51:00.000-05:00

Off Your Back Shirts will be at tomorrow's Neighbors for Neighbors event. More details tomorrow. For info on the event, see below:

What: Neighbors for Neighbors Community Organizing Expo

When: Tuesday February 6th from 7:00 to 9:00 PM
Where: The Milky Way Lounge and Lanes, 405 Centre Street and Lanes in Jamaica Plain MA.

Description:

A community trade show. Social Groups, Community Project and local non-profits will have tabling space where you can learn about all the great stuff happening in and around JP. You'll get a chance to mingle with neighbors and have conversations with people in JP who share similar interests and passions and get involved!. A few announcements will be made but speaking will be kept to under 10 minutes. Delicious appetizers will be served by the Milky Way JP.

New shirts

2007-02-03T09:02:00.000-05:00

Two new shirts will be released shortly. Stay tuned. We have others on the way as well.

letter to the editor

2007-02-02T20:23:00.000-05:00

The letter to the editor I posted on a previous post was printed in the Jamaica Plain Gazette on Feb. 2, 2007. Congress actually passed the funding I mention yesterday - and even provided additional funding that initially requested and planned upon last year! This is good news.

Ughh!

2007-02-02T07:48:00.000-05:00

So, life has been hectic. I'm doing all I can these days to stay above water.

The challenges ahead: With limited money, to continue to offer new product options and market what we're doing. I'm needing to be very creative in getting our message out when the reality is we can't afford to spend money on marketing at this point.

The positive developments: Several interns have jumped on board and I think they will work out amazingly! We'll have several new products in the coming weeks. Also, stay tuned for some exciting things coming down the pike...

exciting news coming...

2007-02-01T18:16:00.000-05:00

So, I may have some exciting (at least for me) news coming in a few days. Be looking out for it! A new partnership...some great publicity...a good cause...

Letter to the editor

2007-01-24T12:31:00.000-05:00

Right now, Congress has an incredible opportunity to continue saving millions of lives in the world's poorest countries by fully funding the fight against global AIDS and extreme poverty.

The last Congress left critical spending bills unfinished and now the new Congress is left with the hard work of deciding our budget for 2007. At stake is $1 billion vital to continuing to provide clean water and life-saving medicines to people in Africa and the world's poorest countries. There are few places in the U.S. budget where dollars translate so directly into lives saved. Without this funding, 350,000 people will not receive life-saving AIDS medicines, nearly 1 million anti-malaria bed nets will not be distributed and 120,000 people will not receive treatment for tuberculosis.

As the owner of a socially conscious business, Off Your Back Shirts, and a member of the ONE Campaign, I encourage Congress to protect this funding and ensure America's continued commitment to the fight against extreme poverty and global HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. Together, we can give the world's poorest people the tools they need to beat extreme poverty and the chance for a hopeful future.

paul daigle

United Students for Fair Trade and Off Your Back Shirts

2007-01-11T13:46:00.001-05:00

The 4^th annual United Students for Fair Trade International Convergence ’07 is February 16th – 19th, 2007. Come join youth organizers, students, allies and producers as they converge on Boston, MA for a profound weekend of collaboration, critical thinking, and relationship building. Participants can attend workshops, keynote speakers, action planning breakouts, and a vendor fair which includes local vendor and sponsor, Off Your Back Shirts (http://offyourbackshirts.com). Come be empowered and inspired to move the Fair Trade movement into the future and to carry on your fair trade activism in a powerful way. For more info visit: http://www.usft.org/index.php?p=/Convergence/

Finding the right shirts to print on

2006-12-30T14:26:00.000-05:00

So, it's not easy to find organic, sweatshop free, and fair trade clothing. I know I've written about this before. But, it's still a challenge.

1st - it's hard to find color choices. what i would give for a good orange and brown shirt! I can get brown in organic but not also in sweatshop free and fair trade at this point. And, don't get me started about orange shirts!

2nd- reliability is also a BIG deal. It's hard to find places that are responsive to calls/emails and who give you a sense they would be order to fill orders on a timely basis.

3rd- quality. Some producers I'd like to work with are inconsistent on the cut and sizing of their clothing. Others have shirts that are starchy or rougher. I, personally, like soft t-shirts.

4th- genuinely sweatshop free. Standards right now are inconsistent on how to judge what is genuinely sweatshop free. I'm working with one company that says it's organic, sweatshop free, and fair trade. They are certified organic. That I believe. Their sweatshop free certification is from a questionable NGO. And, they have no basis to call their stuff sweatshop free. But, their shirts are amazing. Right now, we keeping them listed as an organic, sweatshop free listing on our site (3 of our shirts are from this producer). I'll be doing more research on them in the Spring and may not continue the sweatshop free label.

The hard part with all of this is that some have good quality but not proven standards for what we're looking for. I did find a company with legit credentials for organic and sweatshop free AND fair trade, but their shirt colors and feel aren't what I want.

I also want to find one or two places to work with so our shirts have a consistent quality, feel, and fit. Having shirts from too many producers (like we do right now) makes it difficult for customers to know what they are buying and what sizes to get.

One day I hope to have some significant investors so I can build a direct relationship with one factory and then can work with them on cut, style, colors of the shirts we order from them.

Until then...

United Students for Fair Trade event in Boston

2006-12-28T15:50:00.000-05:00

We're currently working with the United Students for Fair Trade event - Convergence '07 to work out sponsorship info etc.. It will be held in Boston on Feb. 17th-19th (over President's Day weekend). I'm pretty excited about the event. We considering doing their t-shirts for the event and maybe even a workshop. for more info go to: http://www.usft.org/index.php?p=/Convergence/

Off Your Back Shirts Press Release

2006-12-18T16:44:00.000-05:00

PRESS RELEASE
Date: December 14, 2006 Paul Daigle
News Release #12.14.2006 617-283-8453

Organic fair trade products you can wear:
online business offers alternative to sweatshop-made and funds non profits.

Jamaica Plain, MA, Off Your Back Shirts www.offyourbackshirts.com is proud to announce the launching of its website offering organic, sweatshop free and fair trade apparel.

Increasingly, people have come to care about both what products they’re buying and how those products are made. The story behind the product – and in www.offyourbackshirts.com’s case, shirt – does matter to the majority of them.

Paul Daigle, founder and President of www.offyourbackshirts.com states “Consumers don’t just want a nice shirt. They want to know that some kid in some far off country wasn’t forced to work 12 hour days without a lunch break and no opportunity to go to school. They want to know that the woman who is working 50 hours week to help make the shirts they are wearing is making a living wage that can help provide for her family. They want to know that what they are buying doesn’t have a negative effect on our planet. They want to shop without guilt.”

Statistics back up Daigle’s claims a growing trend of ethical consumerism. The organics and fair trade industries are both in a rapid growth phase as socially-conscious consumerism is increasingly considered chic. U.S. organic cotton sales increased 55% each year for the last four years. And, while some experts believe up to 80% of apparel sold in the US is made in sweatshops, 85% of consumers would pay more for a product if it was sweatshop free, which is reflected in the growing fair trade market. There was a 44% increase in fair trade sales between 2001 and 2002 and in 2003, total Fair Trade sales in 2003 reached $291.75 million — a 52 percent increase over 2002.

Although not all of their shirts are sweatshop free, they soon will be. Daigle says, “Initially it was hard to find reliable producers of sweatshop free clothing and specifically fair trade clothing that was also of high quality. We’ve now found some factories and distributors that we hope we can work with long term. We wanted our shirts to have style, comfort and fair production. All of our shirts are organic, however. Which is good, considering that approximately a third of a pound of pesticides is used for the cotton to produce just one cotton t-shirt.”

As the former director of a non-profit program serving the homeless, Daigle knows first hand how hard it is for small non-profits to raise necessary funds to do good work. As a result, part of Off Your Back Shirts mission is to give away a part of all its sales. “Off Your Back Shirts will give a portion of all sales to youth, poverty and the Environment. From the first day I had the vision of this business, I knew I wanted to help fund non-profits in these areas,” Daigle says. And, before their website was live and even sold one shirt, Off Your Back Shirts sponsored two fundraisers this past summer – one for an organization Daigle founded serving homeless youth in Boston, and another for two organizations working with women and children in India. “It was just the right thing to do.”

In the future, Off Your Back Shirts wants to have a designer and limited edition line of shirts selling in stores like Nieman Marcus. Daigle says, “It kills me that designer t-shirts go for over a $100 each and are made in sweatshops. We could beat those prices, pay grass-roots artists well for designs, be sweatshop free, fair trade, and organic, and give a portion of sales to good causes. Also, I’d love to expand to a whole apparel line – beyond just t-shirts.”

For more information contact:
Paul Daigle
President, Off Your Back Shirts
617-283-8453
paul.daigle@gmail.com

Shopping for Social Change event

2006-12-18T16:42:00.000-05:00

Well, we did our first 'fair' this weekend. It was held at Spontaneous Celebrations in Jamaica Plain, MA. There wasn't a ton of traffic, but it was fun and a great first time for us. We did sell some shirts so that was nice...and met some other fair trade folks (mostly indigenous wears).

It's alive!!!

2006-12-06T14:50:00.000-05:00

So, as you may have guessed or found out already... our website is now live. Check it out at: www.offyourbackshirts.com

Check out the shirts, pass the word to friends, buy your Christmas presents. Do it up.

spoke too soon

2006-11-11T09:56:00.000-05:00

well it seems i spoke too soon. I thought our website would be up by now...although this time I do think it could be a week from now, I'm not willing to give any dates - until I'm completely sure. Before Christmas?

it's coming soon...

2006-10-11T10:08:00.000-05:00

So, I'm a little terrified. I think we are actually going to be live sometime next week. I'm excited too (of course).

If you haven't dones so you can check out our placeholder page at: www.offyourbackshirts.com or our myspace site (if you have myspace - you should add us) at www.myspace.com/offyourbackshirts.

Soon, you can also check out some photos of our shirts on Bolt, webshots, and flickr.

Tshirts and women in India

2006-09-15T10:17:00.000-05:00

Check it out: Off Your Back Shirts has partnered with Project Kite to help raise awareness and money for women in India. AND, the shirts we're selling happen to be made in a sweatshop free/fairtrade factory in India (at least the women's t's are - the men's are made by a women's co-op in Nicaragua, also sweatshop free and organic).

Project Kite: a public art installation and benefit event by Jessica Watkins to raise awareness of female feticide and infanticide in India.

**Come this Saturday, September 16**

Support UNICEF and Children's Rights and You (CRY) at "Project Kite Flight." Authentic fighter kites imported from India and Project Kite t-shirts produced by Off Your Back Shirts will be available by donation with proceeds given to improve the status of women and children in India.

For more information, visit www.projectkite.org

myspace

2006-09-12T17:47:00.000-05:00

Have you checked out our myspace site? You should.

We have images of shirts we have printed or may print in the future. Check them out. Give some responses on the shirts.

If you have a myspace site, show us some love and become our friend.

www.myspace.com/offyourbackshirts

it's painful

2006-09-12T17:44:00.000-05:00

so, computer problems are no fun at all. Can I tell you how many hours I have spent in the last two days (and the last month for that matter) on network problems. Someone is coming tonight to work on it...I hope it works...don't know how much more of this I can take. Yesterday it took two hours before I got internet access and it only lasted two hours. ughh!

And, of course, there's always my issues with finishing setting up my mac's...

help, please.

:)

a business shower

2006-09-05T14:00:00.000-05:00

So, after much discussion with different people, we've actually decided to have a business shower. After all, we're about to "birth" a business. The idea came about when several different ideas came together. We had thought of having a little informal gathering to share about the vision of our business. At the same time, we were encouraged to consider asking family/friends for help in getting the business off the ground - help not as loan or investments, but as gifts. The idea seemed a little crazy at first, but some financial gifts were offered related to it. Then I was sharing the idea of a business shower with another friend who told me he knew someone who raised $100,000 for a restaurant all with gifts - not loans or equity investments - from friends, family, and community members. He also said, "go for it".

So, we are. It's a crazy idea, but it's a fine way to share about our business vision, show off some of our shirts and our website, and seek some needed help at the same time.

If you want to know more about it, email me and i'll fill you in.

oh, and if you haven't done so yet, check out our myspace site: myspace.com/offyourbackshirts

paul.daigle@gmail.com

the shirts are coming this week!

2006-09-04T16:23:00.000-05:00

It's pretty exciting. We set up our t-shirt storage facility today in preparation for the shirts (about 1800) that will be delivered on thursday.

We also provided shirts to Second World's fair-trade festival (www.second-world.com) this past week.

We also are doing a special edition shirt to raise awareness concerning gender selective abortion in India (millions of women are never born in India because of this practice) in partnership with the Kite Project (www.projectkite.org). All the proceeds of this fair-trade and organic tee will be donated to programs working with woman in India.

It's coming

2006-08-15T11:34:00.000-05:00

So, it looks like the website will actually happen. We're looking at a mid-September launch right now.

Things have been hectic:

1. we pulled together our final designs for our initial website launch
2. we ordered our first batch of blank tshirts (never spent that much in my whole life).
3. Have had a few people working with me to get stuff off the ground.
4. Have a phenomenal team of interns doing everything from designing shirts to making calls.
5. Working hard with our web team to have a solid timeline on the site launch.
the list goes on...

in the midst we've had our share of struggles - computer problems with our web service down for days at a time, shipments way passed due, and like above, the list goes on and on...

But, we're pushing through.

We finally found some shirt suppliers we like (although not with all the color options we would prefer). We're overwhelmed and totally excited at the same time.

i'll keep you posted...

the struggle of finding a well made shirt i won't feel guilty selling (or wearing for that matter)

2006-07-17T19:17:00.002-05:00

Struggle...

It's almost been hilarious at times. As we seek to offer fair-trade/sweatshop free apparel we have encountered barrier after to barrier. In our search we've found companies that aren't reliable, do shoddy work, or just plain don't like Americans. It seems that every turn finds only more difficulty.

But, we press on.

All of it is complicated by the fact that there is no official certification for fair trade in the apparel industry (unlike coffee, chocolate, or sugar). So, we will be very careful in what and how we label the products we sell.

if you have any leads,...please share them.

the struggle of finding a well made shirt i won't feel guilty selling (or wearing for that matter)

2006-07-17T19:17:00.001-05:00

the struggle of finding a well made shirt i won't feel guilty selling (or wearing for that matter)

2006-07-17T19:17:00.000-05:00

funding, a party, and a full site to come

2006-07-07T11:37:00.000-05:00

the readers-digest version: we have some funding in hand. the website will be up before the end of the summer with products for sale! :)

Folks are also planning a business shower for us (like a baby shower, except for our business - we're "birthing" a business. More details to come!

Final thanks-

2006-07-07T11:26:00.000-05:00

Additional thank's goes out to Starbucks of West Roxbury who came through with some amazing ice coffee (thanks for serving it Meg!).

I want to shout out a big thanks to all who helped make the event happen.
Drew and Jess - you're both amazing peep's. i'm excited to continue to get to know the both of you better. thanks for spearheading much of the room design.
Sue- thanks for providing direction and inspiration in setup.
Lisa - for changing your plans thursday to help out with details and getting all food ready for Heidi! Looking forward to working together more.
Joanne- thanks for loaning us stuff, providing us with sodas while we worked, and generally helping out all over
Heidi - can we say, you stepped in during the nick of time. we wouldn't have had anything to eat without you!
Karen - thanks for tracking down the food donations!
Rob - thanks for showing up - beyond the call of duty and still coming to help out.
Harold - for being willing to help anywhere
Centrevol - www.centrevol.com - Pete, Joe Nash, Nate - you guys rocked! seriously. despite some minor issues (mostly with sound) you all are truly maturing musically as a band. "increase their territory," God! Thanks for putting up with my request for, "Is it too much to ask".
Roselyn - for not just helping out but bringing a crew.
Mark - for t-shirt ideas and hard work during setup. you da man.
Brenda - thanks for running around and finding the things that were needed.
Dana - for handling all the financial stuff during the evening. a relief for me.
Jonathon, Dave, Nancy, Brittany, Alainie, and everyone else (sorry if I missed you) who stayed and helped clean up. Thanks Dave for sticking with me through the unload at my place. i appreciate your friendship, buddy.
John - for coming to setup despite the fact you couldn't make the event. you go!
Amy - for manning the ONE table and helping pull things together at the end of the silent auction. seriously - i appreciate you coming!
Alice - what can i say!
Josh - just for coming. it was great to see you.
to my wife Diana who put up with me through the whole planning process (and gave a good listening ear after the event). I love you!

additional thank you's

2006-07-04T19:46:00.000-05:00

a thank you shout out to Stop and Shop on Centre St. in JP and Trader Joe's in Brookline for donating gift certificates towards appetizers at the event! you guys rock!

Some new silent auction items

2006-07-04T19:44:00.000-05:00

So, we have some new silent auction items

1. we will be auctioning off two of the art pieces being shown done by homeless youth. They're pretty amazing. I actually purchased one at a silent auction last year. It's hanging beside me as I type!

2. The Red Sox donated a baseball autographed by starting pitcher, Matt Clement.

Hope to see you Thursday night (July 6th 6-10pm)!

paul

Current list of silent auction items for the RYSE fundraiser

2006-06-25T07:14:00.000-05:00

Silent Auction Items and Donors

Boing: 729 Centre St., JP, boingtoys.com

Item: Superstructs 96 piece starter construction set and Beka Little Builder maple unit construction set

BYMCU gym: www.bymcu.com 48 Boylston St.

Items: Two - 6 month memberships

Creative Memories Consultant, Meg Skaar: www.mycmsite.com/megskaar

Item: Creative Memories gift assortment

Fire Opal – 683 Centre St., Jamaica Plain www.fire-opal.com

Items: 8 Ceramic tiles by Xenia Taler, artist from Toronto.

Gadgets – 671 Centre St., JP 617-524-6800

Item: $20 gift certificate

Karen Hartke, personal chef.: Karen@karenhartke.com, 617-524-3896

Item: 2 entrees cooked and home delivered

Indigena – 42 South St., JP 617-522-5585

Item: Doxon handbag

Mary Kay Consultant, Erin Berry: www.marykay.com/erin_berry.

Item: Mary Kay gift assortment

Mister Mars-animal pet massage

Item: Pet massage class for four

Morrison’s Auto-Rite, Inc. 617-522-4444

Items: Six – individual oil change certificates

Off Your Back Shirts (www.offyourbackshirts.com)

Item: Selection of Sample shirts

Petal and Leaf Florist: www.petalandleaf.net

Item: Floral Arrangement and gift certificate

TOMB – www.5-wits.com

Item: Tickets to Tomb

Check it out: radio interview on Boston's Progressive Talk Radio

2006-06-23T10:29:00.000-05:00

So, it will be incredibly early - but an interview of me will play on Boston's Progressive Talk Radio Am 1200 and 1430 on Sunday morning around 7:00-7:10am.

The interview covers the RYSE UP fundraiser and talks about Off Your Back Shirts.

We also will soon have a PSA (public service announcement) for the RYSE event playing on several radio stations.

Hopefully mp3's of both will be available on the offyourbackshirts.com site shortly or on our new myspace site (yes, of course, we also have a myspace site - doesn't everyone?!?)

AND...in other big news... our logo is near completion and our website should soon (maybe even today) have more than just a white background but will begin to carry our brand identity. Very exciting! at least for me... :)

RYSE UP - press release

2006-06-16T11:36:00.000-05:00

Contact:
Paul Daigle
River of Life Church and Off Your Back Shirts
52 Paul Gore St. #2
Jamaica Plain, MA 02130
617-283-8453 (cell)
paul.daigle@gmail.com
http://www.rolcboston.org/
http://www.offyourbackshirts.com/
www.egc.org/ministries/starlight

For Immediate Release

RYSE Up: Art and Music for a cause

An Art Exhibit by and Fundraiser for Boston’s Homeless Youth

Jamaica Plain- Massachusetts, June 13^th, 2006 –RYSE UP: Art and Music for a cause – An Art Exhibit by and fundraiser for - Boston’s Homeless Youth will be held on July 6^th at River of Life Church, 440 Centre St. in Jamaica Plain. The art exhibit, held in conjunction with JP’s First Thursday’s art shows, and hors d’oeuvres is open to the general public and is free- from 6:00-8:00 PM. Prints of the work by homeless youth will be sold and a silent auction will be held to help raise money for RYSE (Reaching Youth on the Streets), the street youth outreach program of Starlight Ministries. From 8:00-10:00pm there will be a benefit concert for RYSE featuring local Boston band, Centrevol (www.centrevol.com), and Jamaica Plain resident and RYSE director, Alice Rouse. The benefit concert will cost $7. The art exhibit and fundraiser is collaboration between RYSE, River of Life Church, and Off Your Back Shirts.

RYSE UP is an unlikely exhibition of paintings in which our questions, fears, and misconceptions about life on the streets are confronted in the expressions of lives yet unfulfilled. Between 8-26 individuals worked together on each painting. Through their collective paintings the artists, Boston’s street youth, speak to the pains and joys of a life not respected. “RYSE art grew out of an exercise in self-expression; duct-taping blank canvases onto the city’s sidewalks and encouraging youth to vent with brushes and paint. Over time it developed into a series of powerful artwork contrasting the troubles of the streets with the strength of the individuals and community,” notes Alice Rouse, RYSE Outreach Coordinator. “This work exhibits the longing of these overlooked individuals to express and define their role in our community.”

 RYSE conducts outreach to homeless youth in Boston and Cambridge four days a week, between 1:00-9:00 pm.  Starlight’s youth outreach is one of only two programs in the city that have paid homeless youth outreach workers and is the only program to have outreach on Saturdays. As one youth voiced, “We hope that we’re not always going to be stuck here on the streets, but you must know that people LIKE us will always be here.”

River of Life Church, co-sponsor of the event is hosting RYSE UP. River of Life Church has been serving Jamaica Plain for over 100 years and has been involved in supporting the work of community groups, especially Starlight and RYSE, for years.

The other co-sponsor, Off Your Back Shirts (http://www.offyourbackshirts.com/), is a new socially conscious, clothing company based out of Jamaica Plain, MA, which offers fun and designer shirts at a fraction of the cost people would expect to pay. Off Your Back Shirts (OYBS) will begin selling shirts this summer and will offer shirts with funny and socially relevant messages a la popular t-shirt companies, as well as artistic, limited edition t-shirts. Co-sponsoring RYSE UP directly ties into their socially conscious mission. OYBS plans to donate ten percent of gross sales to non-profit organizations throughout the country, promote fair-trade and sweatshop free products to customers, and be environmentally sound by offering organic clothing, and using earth friendly products, recycling and using recycled goods as much as possible.

-end-

RYSE is an initiative of Starlight Ministries of the Emmanuel Gospel Center dedicated to serving the needs of youth and young adults ages 14-24 who are homeless or on the streets in Boston and Cambridge.

Mark your calendars: RYSE Up: Art and Music for a cause

2006-06-10T11:41:00.000-05:00

Off Your Back Shirts (www.offyourbackshirts.com) and River of Life Church (www.rolcboston.org) are acting as lead co-sponsors for a great event on Thursday July 6^th – RYSE Up: Art and Music for a cause. The event will include a silent auction, an art show from 6-8pm and a benefit concert from 8-9:30. It will be held at River of Life Church, 440 Centre St., Jamaica Plain. We will invite local press to attend, cover, and photograph the event.

RYSE is a part of Starlight Ministries, a 17 year old program serving individuals who are homeless in Boston and Cambridge. RYSE is one of only two programs in the Boston area that has paid outreach workers serving directly on the streets with street youth between the ages of 14-24 years old, and the only program that conducts outreach on Saturdays.

The art show will feature artwork done by youth who are homeless with RYSE’s art program. The show will be part of the monthly installation at River of Life in connection to the monthly 1^st Thursday’s Art in Jamaica Plain. Prints of the art will be sold to support the RYSE program. Complimentary hors d’oeuvres will be served.

The music benefit concert will start at 8:00pm upstairs from the art show. Admission will be $7 or by donation. The concert will feature local Boston band Centrevol (www.centrevol.com) and Alice Rouse, Director of the RYSE program. The concert will end at approximately 10:00.

We are actively seeking sponsorship from well-regarded and popular local companies. We are hoping that you will consider donating some of your products for our silent auction. All proceeds from the silent auction will be donated to RYSE and donations will be considered in-kind gifts and tax deductible.

so much is going on...

2006-06-03T18:29:00.000-05:00

seriously. i'm visiting with family so i can't write too much now. but so much has gone on the last two weeks. challenges (finances). and encouragements (affirmations on the business plan and viability of the business)...and so much more. i also had a great opportunity to speak to a leading academic in the area of trade justice (fair trade - sweatshop free apparel labor)...

more to come.

to the bank we go...

2006-05-27T13:51:00.000-05:00

well, i'm off to the bank on tuesday to talk about a small business loan.

it's scary.

it's exciting.

things are happening.

forward movement is good.

freakin' out

2006-05-25T17:00:00.000-05:00

Uggh! so one of the folks i was looking to for initial funding just said they can't do it!

God, help!

Anyone have any ideas where i could get some money to start a t-shirt company?!?

So, with lots of help (interns, friends, etc.) working on this, a really good business plan, t-shirt ideas, etc...all this adds up to...

not much without the cash.

time to call some loan places tomorrow!

i'm done

2006-05-25T10:22:00.000-05:00

I think i'm actually done with business plan. there will always be changes and additions...but it is a decent try as it is. I did 3 full sets of financials yesterday, each on a different startup scenario. Me and excel are best buds now!

Now if only the knots in my back would go away from thinking about numbers too much!

2, 4, 6, 8 - playing with numbers is what we appreciate

2006-05-23T10:29:00.001-05:00

Today I get to play with budgets! A little is fun. They can almost be like a puzzle. Too much though, and I get frustrated pretty easy. Today will be a long day.

Cash flow, balance sheets, profit /loss, startup costs, etc.

I've worked on all this before, but have new assumptions to put in and want to take a new look at everything (accuracy is good, mistakes bad).

Then, I get to do a valuation of the business!

Can't you just feel my excitement! :-/

inquiries

2006-05-22T21:02:00.000-05:00

thoughts, questions, comments - email me at offyourbackshirts@gmail.com

in the shower...

2006-05-21T05:49:00.000-05:00

I have some of my best thoughts in the shower. You?

There are so many details to starting a business. It's overwhelming.

It's also REALLY exciting.

This week will be full! I'll be figuring out how to handle investors, beginning to advertise for a fundraiser we are co-sponsoring for a homeless youth program here in Boston called RYSE, meeting with interns and potential interns, and hopefully getting both a brand logo and a bank account.

forward progress...

It begins...

2006-05-19T14:08:00.000-05:00

It's been a little over 2 months since i committed to making this t-shirt business happen. The ideas were brewing for a while...

it's been a rollercoaster ever since. Fast turns, spins, and dips. Loads of excitement along the way. And some steep inclines (challenges) to overcome.

and, here i am.

so, why am i doing this?

I want to make a difference. I want to see trade made fair. I want to see our world (creation) respected. I want to show that business doesn't just have to be about making money. I want to see deep elements of my faith and spirituality have feet.

I don't want to hear that some kid was paid 3 cents to make my clothes. I don't want to hear that the women in the factory work 12 hour days, don't get paid enough to eat, so they have to take loans from the factory at high interest rates to get additional money to feed the family. I don't want to hear that these women now are basically indentured servants of the factory, never to leave because they will never be able to pay off their debts.

so what is offyourbackshirts.com?

offyourbackshirts.com is a web-based, t-shirt company whose mission is to be a socially conscious business, selling quality shirts people love. The company’s website will go live summer, 2006.

Good shirts…

offyourbackshirts.com will offer fun, inspiring, and designer shirts at prices comparable or better than much of the competition. I don't want to share too much about our products until there on the market (we don't want anyone stealing our ideas now, do we?).

…with a conscience

The socially-conscious part of OBYS will be three-fold:

• Philanthropy. As the former director of a non-profit, I know how difficult it is to raise funds. OYBS will give a minimum of 10% of gross sales to poverty, youth, and environmental causes - which is ethical and appealing to an increasingly socially-aware consumer environment. Customers will be able to designate where the 10% of their purchase will be donated. We will also partner with a local non-profit to hire urban youth.

• Fair trade/sweatshop free. In 2004, it was estimated that it cost only one cent for shirts to be produced in Asia, and in Latin America, three cents. To support fairer wages for shirt production, we will offer fair trade and sweatshop free options and aim to use exclusively fair trade, organic materials in the HeartSleeve line. OYBS will attempt to build relationships directly with fair trade and sweat shop free factories abroad. We will provide educational materials on fair trade with every purchase and on the website.

• Environment. Pesticides used in cotton production wreak havoc on the earth’s ecosystem. We will promote organic farming by offering organic cotton shirt options when available. We will strive to use earth-friendly products and supplies, use recycled materials, and recycle.