So I clicked through a few more in the Ask a Gay Man series, and found this, an introduction into a company called Mondonation. According to the company's website, Mondonation is
an experiment built around the idea that if we all share our beliefs on a daily basis, by wearing them on our bodies, they will grow in strength. This will begin to affect the people who wear their beliefs and also everyone they come into contact with. What we do is give people the opportunity to wear their beliefs. You get to choose a charity from a growing list of charities and we give your designated amount ($1, $5, $10, or $20) to that charity. So the strength of mondonation is threefold: giving money to something you believe in while wearing something you believe in while looking great in a product that is ethically made by American Apparel.
Though their webpage contains nauseatingly optimistic, reductionist lines reminiscent of answers from a Miss America pageant, or a high school MUN student's response to the query, "How might we eliminate world hunger?"*, it is also a breath of fresh air. Mondonation's founders make no secret of the fact that theirs is both a charitable and a for-profit organization, and they hope their model will be successful enough to encourage others to consider the financial, ecological, and social benefits to establishing and supporting like-minded companies.
To me, this is really an alluring idea in that it marries western consumerism and our perpetual interest in fashion with the newly emerging social consciousness of America's younger generation. (I'm ashamed at how cynical and profit-driven this next part sounds, but) Mondonation seems to have positioned really itself well in terms of simultaneously tapping into both our selfish and selfless halves. The company is poised to develop great namebrand recognition, since its products are cool by advertising to others not only, "look how much money I could afford to spend on this shirt," (à la Abercrombie & Fitch, et al), but also, "look how charitable and philanthropic I've been by spending so much money on this shirt."
All while simultaneously giving us what we so desperately want in an age of globalization: the chance both to stand out in the crowd and to fit in with it. Their customizable "I Believe" t-shirts seize on the "Me" phenomenon, in which everyone not only has something to say, but also wants to hear the voices of those around him. (Think Youtube, MySpace, Xanga, Friendster, or this blog, for that matter. See also Time Magazine's 2006 Person of the Year for further documentation.) Moreover, it seems they are entirely cyber-based, lacking any B&M stores to which customers can go to order their apparel. Great way to save on overhead: you can just imagine Mr. or Ms. Mondonation working from home with just a spouse or a couple friends as the only employees (save the non-sweatshop seamstresses toiling away at their sewing machines).
Of course, if it really does succeed in popularizing this profit/charity business model, Mondonation's edge (it's edgi-ness and relative isolation in this market) will be lost, rendering it just another good idea snatched up and made better by someone else. And that would be a shame. I'd better order my shirt from them while I still can.
*E.g. "Mondonation began as a dream that if people begin to focus on the positive aspects of their life it will inspire others. This will create a network of people sharing beliefs and thought patterns - the Ripple Effect. The bottom line is when enough people focus their energy in a positive direction, amazing things will happen."
Or, "The clothing we wear touches our skin. Skin will absorb what it comes into contact with. To us it seems wrong to put something made in a sweatshop (full of bad karma) on our skin."
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