Today we’d like to introduce you to Impact Threads
Hi IMPACT, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Our names are Daniel Kauffman and William Wright, and we are seniors at Lovett and Westminster. The idea for Impact Threads began the summer before our sophomore year of high school. We’ve always been passionate about philanthropy, participating in various community service activities throughout Atlanta. However, we wanted to do something more substantial to give back. Through our brainstorming, we realized that the most impactful way to help was by partnering with local charitable organizations and raising money to support causes directly. After trial and error, we developed the idea of building clothing apparel to raise funds for different partnered charities. We wanted this clothing to stand out and serve as a means to promote the charities. Through this goal, we came up with the idea of incorporating scannable QR codes into every design. The QR codes link to the donation page of the charity we are partnered with for that specific line of clothing. This has allowed our clothing to have a much more significant impact on charities as not only do 51% of our profits off of every shirt go to the partnered charity, but now, with the incorporation of the QR codes, we have been able to drive donations for the charity as anyone wearing our clothing is actively promoting and supporting the cause. We have made it our mission to help charities, and because of this, our clothing costs absolutely nothing on the charity’s end, meaning that we produce, design, deliver, and promote completely cost-free for the charity. We are still in the early stages of impact threads and hope to expand our brand and reach by continuing to partner with and support charities.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Creating our business has had its challenges, but ultimately, each one has helped us grow. Initially, we had trouble connecting with several charities and had many of our designs rejected or ghosted altogether. Ultimately, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta accepted our color-coordinated design. We also experimented with various production methods, such as switching from iron-on to heat press and outsourcing overseas. Over time, we found our ideal method with DTF transfer paper, which allows us to design and manually heat transfer the shirts in-house, making the process more efficient and ensuring the quality of each product. Along the way, we had to learn how to set up a website, create a legal business, and expand by adding new charity partnerships. We had to do all this while keeping up with our schoolwork and athletics. It hasn’t been easy, but it’s been incredibly rewarding for our development and knowledge about running a business in the clothing industry.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Impact Threads specializes in philanthropy-driven apparel. We focus on supporting charities and causes that matter to our community. Currently, we are focusing on making graphic t-shirts that are uniquely designed to support charities, but we will be moving into different clothing pieces in the future. Our most notable partnership is with Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, where we create unique designs to raise funds and awareness for the organization’s initiatives. We are also lucky to have just partnered with IWillSurviveInc and the Atlanta Humane Society, and we are incredibly excited to release our shirts for them. In the coming weeks, we will announce another partnership with Fernbank, which was a huge part of our childhood here in Atlanta. Our commitment to creating an impact through every sale sets us apart. Each shirt sold contributes proceeds to a meaningful cause. Also, the uniqueness of our scannable QR codes incorporated into the designs separates us from other clothing that supports charities. We can raise money through sales and drive donations through our QR codes on the shirts. We are most proud of how far we’ve come since our early days, particularly our ability to refine our process and build strong partnerships. We also take pride in the integrated QR code included on our t-shirts. This code provides an easy way for people to access more information or the donation page about the charity we’re supporting at that time, making it even easier for our customers to engage with the causes they’re helping. It’s a unique feature that brings our mission full circle. Not only does each shirt sold produce 51% of their net profits to the partnered charities, but they also receive an average return of 400% with the QR code’s website reach.
Pricing:
- 29.50/shirt
Contact Info:
- Website: https://impactthreads.org
- Instagram: @impactthreadsapparel
Image Credits
Charlie Mattie
