We are: A socially conscious, college-licensed clothing brand.
Profits = Donations: 1=1 means for every dollar we earn, 50% of the profit goes toward causes, charities and social projects:
¹ Local needs and causes, e.g. the local university community, or ² Worldwide needs and causes: anywhere people need support, from distressing economic conditions to areas affected by natural disasters.
2010 :: For 1 garment purchased, 1 garment was given
2011 :: For every dollar made, half the dollar is given to a social cause. Our cause partner is Clothes4Souls, a non-profit helping to increase the dignity of people in need, the world over.
2012 :: Growing in 1=1 with causes, charities and social projects. For ideas and inquiries: info@smartthreads.com
However little or much we make, our purpose is to contribute and build a better world.
Clothes4Souls facilitates donations of new clothing from manufacturers/designers/retailers and gently worn clothing from people like you, striving to increase dignity and hope in the hurting with the gift of this new clothing.
For every $1 we make, 50% goes to Clothes4Souls to help them help people all over the world.
Soles4Souls is a non-profit organization that strives to impact with the gift of shoes and is currently involved in over 45 states and 125 countries.
In our current economy it is unusual to see a startup company that puts as much effort into giving back as it does towards earning a profit. This extraordinary partner for us is Smartthreads, a company that selected the cause first and then tried to figure out a way to support it.
Clothes4Souls is a cause that has been sewn into the very fiber of the Smartthreads brand, and because of their dedication we are able to bring relief to children and adults living in abject poverty.
While the lack of clothing may seem foreign to most Americans, for individuals living on less than $1 a day, an item of clothing—a shirt, a school uniform, or a coat—can be the small sliver of sunlight that breaks through the dark clouds of poverty. It can bring dignity and pride where shame and humiliation once existed.
In 2011, it is no longer acceptable for American businesses to ignore the issue of global poverty and hope it will solve itself. Smartthreads has chosen to take the road less traveled and decided to stake their success on it. We cannot express our gratitude enough for what their brand is choosing to do for the millions of children and adults who can’t provide for themselves. This year alone, Smartthreads has impacted the lives of more than 15,000 people in need.
If we could wrap all of those voices within a single letter I am sure they would all be saying the same thing—Thank You!
We sponsored MOSCTHA's annual fundraising event on 12/3. To see where proceeds go watch this beautiful, heartwarming video for the health clinic being built in Petit-Goâve, Haiti.
In the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake, this town lacks health care services and a hospital for its population exceeding 13,000 inhabitants.
MOSCTHA is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of life and respect for the underprivileged communities of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. MOSCTHA is dedicated to the environmental, cultural, and social progressions of the under-represented and underprivileged communities through programs and projects of integrated community development.
We're a proud member affiliated as a Category C licensee with the Fair Labor Association (FLA), a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending sweatshop conditions in factories worldwide.
Incorporated in 1999, FLA is a collaborative effort of socially responsible companies, colleges and universities, and civil society organizations to improve working conditions in factories around the world. The FLA has developed a Workplace Code of Conduct, based on the International Labour Organization (ILO) standards, and created a practical monitoring, remediation and verification process to achieve those standards.
The FLA is a brand accountability system that places the onus on companies to voluntarily achieve the FLA’s labor standards in the factories manufacturing their products. Universities affiliated with the FLA ensure that the licensees supplying their licensed products manufacture or source those products from factories in which workers’ rights are protected.
As a new, socially responsible company, we need all the feedback and help we can get. Drop us a line anywhere, tell us what you like and what we can do better. We don't know without your help!
We believe: Reaching out means reaching in, impacting the world within our specialized industry, doing things resourcefully as best we can from where we're at. With small steps and helping hands.
We couldn’t do this without you, lift our little company off the ground. It is with the collective effort of all the people who care that will help see our 1=1 brand and purpose succeed, year after year.
Back in 2009, Chris Young sat down with his good friend Larry Crabb for a dinner discussion, seeking a business model that would not only sustain corporation operations, but offer a helping hand to those in need. That dinner marked the birth of Smartthreads 1=1, a socially conscious hybrid brand that utilizes a unique concept of 1=1; for every dollar they make, Smartthreads donates 50% of the profits or a brand new garment to a charitable organization.
The profit donations are spread between local needs and worldwide causes, such as people in need due to economic depression or areas impacted by natural disasters. For clothing donations, Smartthreads has partnered with Clothes4Souls, a division of the Soles4Souls non-profit organization that distributes new and gently-worn clothing around the world.
Of course, the question of whether or not this business model can be sustained comes into play. Young admits that Smartthreads 1=1 is operating in the red; then again, so are a lot of traditional business set-ups. However, Young says he feels a responsibility to see things through and has started matching donations out of his own pocket. Read full post by Brandon Richard >>
Hey college snobs– how many college sweat shirts do you own that remind you more of your pajamas than couture?! Well I have the solution for you– this Emily jacket from Smartthreads brings a touch of “Jil Sanders” into an otherwise uninspiring collegiate fashion world. Read full post by Bag Snob Tina >>
