For those of you who don't know me, my background is in advertising, marketing & graphic art. Justin's background is in business, mostly construction. So, obviously, when we had the idea to start an ethical and world-changing apparel company, we really had no idea what it was going to take or even where to start.
The easy stuff--like becoming incorporated, getting tax ID numbers, paying for business licenses, and starting bank accounts--was, well, easy. That's the stuff that both of us have done before with other businesses that we've started.
So far, the most difficult part of this entire process, and one of the reasons we started the Dignitee, has been finding groups of survivors that make t-shirts. I find it absolutely amazing that no one is really doing this...yet. And if they are, it's really hard to find them.
Right now, we've been in communication with an organization in Cambodia and one in India. The organization in Cambodia currently doesn't operate at a very high capacity and, although the organization in India sews plenty of other stuff, they aren't making t-shirts yet.
It's very possible that we may have to start out using shirts from another manufacturing facility until we can build up capacity at these locations. Which isn't all bad. We'd still be offering great shirt designs and giving away ONE THIRD of our profits to organizations fighting human trafficking.
I'm not sure if everyone who starts a company goes through these types of bumps in the road, but they definitely build your character. I guess if it was easy, everyone would be doing it, right?
If you know of any human trafficking orgs who are doing this or any who'd be interested in starting something similar, please email me at: david@digniteeapparel.com.
Come back often and I'll keep you updated on how things are going...
~peace
david
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