Interwoven Threads

i have been a bit quiet about a side project i've been working on (for almost a year now!), but after a web re-design and updated functionality, i want to share this with my little corner of the blogosphere.

i started a company about six months ago. not to get rich or quit my day job or any such motive, but to experiment with a new type of business model and, simply, to try and make a difference in my community. i found a way to combine some of my passions, and the result is Interwoven Threads.

check out the site to get the meat and potatoes of Interwoven Threads (and to buy!), but here are a couple sidenotes to guide you:

• Interwoven Threads is built around the mission of looking good and doing better through the simple purchase of a T-shirt. Currently, for each shirt purchased, we donate one shirt to someone who truly needs to be clothed. your purchase encompasses a nifty shirt for you and a quality (and equally nifty) donated shirt.
  
• Because of the consumer purchases during the spring's soft launch period, we've already donated about sixty shirts, most of which have gone to reStart, a homeless advocacy organization here in Kansas City. reStart has distributed ALL of these shirts (within a day or two of the donation), so i'm hoping the new website will invigorate another wave of sales. other shirts have been donated to specific individuals because of specific requests. sometimes i just hand out shirts on the street. however it happens, a donation is made per purchase.
• i hope to introduce two new designs this summer (one pretty soon), and possibly feature shirts of local bands (all of which would have an element of donation). so bookmark the site and check back!
  
• the threads are created by emerging artists and printed on 100% organic cotton, American-made T-shirts.
  

i'm constantly thinking of ways to grow the company's positive impact. i'm networking with good folks across the country to find new ways to donate, aid in or provide a medium for doing better. From working with individual organizations to act as a vehicle for awareness and donation to providing a place to sell clothing to artists and organizations without the means to create an online sales feature, i really see the opportunities to help - by being a hub for empowered consumers - as endless.

building this company has been exciting, scary, stressful, inspirational, all at once. i have learned so much about business and even more about the challenges that small business face and the absolute mountains "green," socially-conscious start-ups can face.

i hope you dig the concept. if you have ideas, feedback or would like to help out in some way, give me a shout. it's an evolving effort, but one i'm excited to share with all of you.