donation time

it's the best part about owning Interwoven Threads: quarterly donations to three worthy partners: reStart Kansas City, Thresholds Outreach in Chicago and Feeding America.

Check it all out on the Do Better Blog. it was a banner quarter for donations!

remember you can buy online, at the wonderful Gifted Hands boutique in Crown Center (where 40% of Interwoven sales go to preventing domestic violence in Kansas City) and now in Chicago at the eco-boutique Grasshopper 510.

thanks to all who have supported this vision and mission.

look good, do better.

andy

New Interwoven Threads now online!

check out the website for the two new designs - and a cool redesign of the Interwoven site!

based on customer comments, i've made the women's shirts longer in the torso - and these new shirts are super soft. even softer than the last designs. you'll love the way they fit.

also, again because of your comments, i created a new donation element. for every sale of the white threads, i'm donating $5 to America's Second Harvest to help fight the growing cost of food for lower income Americans. this will be a meaningful donation during a time when all of our budgets are stretched, but none so much as those who already were in need. the yellow threads will be the same one-shirt-donated-per-purchase model.

these shirts were designed by Suzanne Frye.

look good, do better.

Do better this weekend! and new threads!

Hit up the Do Better Blog for info on the Barclay Martin Ensemble/Interwoven Threads/HALO Foundation benefit concert this weekend! And get a sneak peek at the new summer threads!

saturday tunes

i've had a super-productive saturday morning. as most mornings go, it began with the Monk-dog burying his head under the covers, then jolting it upwards to jar me awake. may have been that i just felt under the weather this week (or that it's now saturday), but I bounded out of bed and took him into the backyard to drink some coffee (me) and partake in some squirrel intimidation (him).

filled some interwoven threads orders (preparing shipping packages gives me an insane amount of joy) while listening to the new Radiohead album (for the love of God, this is a great effort). i especially love the model Radiohead experimented with, in offering the album for any price the consumer wanted to pay. not only did that reap great pr and sales, it only encouraged folks to buy the album in box-form when it became available in the real world. it's currently numero uno on the Billboard chart. victory! here's the band's special NYE video, Scotch Mist. amazing....



just downloaded the new album from Coconut Records - actor Jason Schwartzman's one-man (with help) band. it's stellar. great weekend music. it's amazingly ADD in its sound, moving from mellow and melancholy folk (think Ben Kweller) to funky dork (think Weezer). i'm loving it. it's a nice surprise to find an actor making quality music. i got impatient and bought the album from iTunes, however, if you buy it from Coconut Records, Schwartzman throws in a Polaroid Pic for your extra consumer effort. check the below video for one of my instant favorites from the album:



here's what i'm not going to do this weekend. too cold to jump on the trails. i think part of the cold i battled last week was from inhaling too much mud last saturday.


instead, i'm headed to ibex to climb with a friend (her first time bouldering!). should be fun.

have an invigorating weekend.

Green technology? Oxymoron?

just posted a little ditty on the Do Better Blog regarding the electronics industry and green technology. check it.

while you're at it, don't forget to add the Do Better Blog to your RSS or blog reader.

Interwoven Threads on the tele and Exactitudes in my head

i put my PR experience to good use yesterday morning and media trained myself (it's much easier being the trainer than the trainee) before jumping on the Fox 4 morning show to talk about Interwoven Threads. check out a clip of the interview and more details here.



i about spit out my soup as i perused Exactitudes, which might be the most inspiring and insightful photography project i've ever seen. thanks to josh spear.com for the heads up.

Interwoven Threads in the KC Star!

Fashion Editor Jackie White included Interwoven Threads in a wonderful story for today's Kansas City Star. as part of a local gift ideas theme, three images were included (courtesy of photographer Tom Foley).

as a reminder to anyone thinking about giving Interwoven Threads for Christmas, today's orders will be shipped via Priority Mail by end of day today (Dec. 21) and the good folks at the Post Office told me today's shipment should arrive Saturday or Monday depending on which corner of the world you inhabit. as a disclaimer, Interwoven Threads is not responsible for the U.S. Postal Service's delivery schedule during this busy time of year. the stated delivery time for Priority Mail is 2-3 days, however, local (Kansas City-area) packages normally move across town in a day. information is included in each shipment on the benefits of organic cotton and the story behind Interwoven Threads and its donation program.

if you're freakin' out and want to guarantee the gifts are in your hands, i am willing to deliver in the Kansas-City Metro through Saturday at noon. you just have to ask nicely. any questions can be sent to shout (at) interwoventhreads (dot) com. i'll respond right quick.

Interwoven Threads in Present Magazine!

check out the latest edition of Present Magazine for a nice story on Interwoven Threads.

Interwoven Threads/Barclay Martin collab

check out the Do Better Blog for the news of Interwoven Threads first partnership: a collaboration with singer/songwriter/documentarian Barclay Martin.

get a look, buy, do better here.

some new news

been quite busy between work and Interwoven Threads and preparing for this weekend's Dallas Whiterock Marathon. here's an update, at the Do Better Blog.

bridging the marketing/Interwoven Threads gap, PSFK posted a nice review of Interwoven on its fashion site. additional media coverage is planned for this month. i'll pass it on!

more soon....

New Interwoven Threads!

mosey on over to the Do Better Blog to find out who is the first collaborator to launch a shirt on the Interwoven Threads line.

and click here for some end-of-the-day feel good.

how to kick ass

you know, i read a lot of blogs. (what a stupid way to start a post). but it's true. and oftentimes i start new feeds and in the first few posts, i can usually tell if i will find value or not. for a couple years now, i've been searching for whatever happened to the old branding shop kindred keziah. i blogged about it in 2005. well, after a friend in colorado sent me a post from the Egg Strategy blog a couple days ago, i've been reading "the dozen" and it's previous posts with interest.

not only do my brand strategy interests collide with Egg, turns out they are the outcome of a merger with kindred keziah. well, slap me around and call me serendipity.



tonight, after being absolutely engrossed with a back issue of Fast Company and learning more about design powerhouse fuseproject, i sat down at my Macbook to do some follow up on the companies/people i was reading about and found this nice post from Egg...on a company i have an overwhelming amount of respect for (and consumer dollars in), Patagonia, and a leader i'm pretty sure i'd walk on fire to follow, Yvon Chouinard.

it reminded me that a couple weeks ago, Andrew the Planner and i absorbed the google zeitgeist video of Chouinard and friend Tom Browkaw, below:



for some reason, i never posted my thoughts. probably due to business. most of you know that i follow patagonia with a zealot's obsession and built Interwoven Threads' social constitution in many of the same ways patagonia is run.

well, there it is for the absorbing. grab onto the Egg Strategy feed. what i've read has been both insightful and challenging. Egg, fuseproject, Patagonia...all kicking ass. how can you be part of it? how can you learn from it and develop something new? how can you kick ass?

Planet in Peril

new post on this new documentary at the Do Better Blog.

anyone want to invite me over to watch this tonight? :)

Nau rockin', new Interwoven Threads shirts!

as i continue to grow my clothing company, Interwoven Threads, i keep an eye on other businesses that have changed the traditional business model, especially in its relationship to sustainability. nau clothing has been one such company. i'm certain you've read a bit about it (if not, a simple googleaction will reveal a bundle of write-ups), but the gist is, the company sees itself as a world-changing organization...not just an outdoor clothing company. read this quick description.

i follow nau's blog: the thought kitchen. today, a post announced a new effort on the company site to be more transparent. described as, "stories about our products and practices and the issues that aren't so black and white." beautiful. the effort is called "grey matters" check it out here. nau is a leader, not just in production and sustainability, but in the supremely important field of transparency. kudos.

===

speaking of Interwoven Threads, things are hoppin'! just returned from the post office where i shipped 10 shirts off to all corners of the U.S. the bump in sales probably came from a little promotion i'm running to kick-off the new shirt (designed by seth gunderson): while i'm waiting to get the new shirt online and looped into the merchant service for orders, all purchases between now and the time you can buy it online will be free of pesky shipping and handling costs!

that's right. for those of you in KS, you'll pay a bit of sales tax, but for the others, you can dress yo'self in the latest design for just 25 bucakroos. simply shoot me an e-mail at andy@interwoventhreads.com and give me your size.

here are some photos from the shoot - check 'em, order 'em, rock 'em. and remember each purchase creates a donation of one shirt to reStart, where it will be given to someone that truly needs to be clothed.