by Ben Wiener, co-founder of Tees at Risk
Tees at Risk is not your typical t-shirt company. For starters, we’re one of the first apparel companies to become a certified B Corporation, on account of the money we give away to youth nonprofits for every t-shirt we sell. Secondly, our fabulous designers are not (yet) Madison Avenue stylists, but instead are at-risk teens who submit artwork to us from around the world. And finally, our shirts are not merely static works of art – each shirt tells the story behind its design and artist, using a QR code printed on each shirt.
My partner Richard Kligman and I founded Tees at Risk in 2010 after having worked together to start a technology company a few years before. Both of us have experience as volunteers with troubled youth, and we believed that because many of them suffer from low self-esteem, finding new ways to help talented but troubled kids feel better about themselves could have a positive impact.
Our company’s primary goals are to give at-risk youth a positive outlet for their creativity, and to distribute as much money as possible to selected charities that focus on helping disadvantaged youth. Our triple-bottom-line approach creates a unique “cycle of benefit” whereby our artists feel good not just about their artistic expression but also about their ability to help generate funding for nonprofits through their creations.
QR codes are an integral part of each of our designs. We print a unique QR code on the front of each of our t-shirts; when scanned with a smartphone, the code opens a webpage that includes the “back-story” of the design in the youthful artist’s own words. The webpage also features the nonprofit that we’ve chosen to benefit from sales of that design, as well as links to our website and Facebook page. So if you see someone wearing a Tees at Risk t-shirt, you can just scan the QR code to instantly learn about the “story behind the shirt” and then immediately share that story with your friends via Facebook, and buy the shirt at our online store.
In the few months since our launch, we have produced engaging t-shirt designs that benefit stellar organizations such as the National Runaway Switchboard (based in Chicago), NY Youth at Risk, and the Youth for Technology Foundation. In addition to our “retail” designs, we have also produced custom designs for organizations, where our teen artists serve as a virtual design studio to create the organization’s staff or volunteer t-shirts; in those projects as well, we donate a portion of our revenue to a youth non-profit. Our unique designs and business model have already been noticed by influential media, MTV, and even country music star and youth advocate Jimmy Wayne.
We’re looking forward to continuing to grow and tell more unique stories, and QR codes will be an important part of that storytelling effort.
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NOTE FROM HMC: See and buy the Tees at Risk shirts and scan their QR codes at the HMC MobiU Seminar on QR codes, August 10, 2011. Click here for more information.
Website: www.teesatrisk.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/teesatrisk
