T-shirts of love

By Kath Gannaway
HELEN Collier has a rather unique way of marketing her “Give a shirt” T-shirts.
Advertising her T-shirts as “outrageously expensive” and “ludicrously priced” probably wouldn’t work in most cases, but Ms Collier’s T-shirt venture is all about making a difference – giving a shirt, in fact, about communities and businesses affected by the February bushfires.
The design is simple and the concept inspired, tapping into the desire of people to help, a sense of local pride … even a bit of healthy parochialism, perhaps.
Ms Collier was inspired by the I ‘LOVE’ NY T-shirt logo which she tweaked initially to provide an opportunity for Toolangi residents and businesses, and those keen to support them, to wear their hearts on their sleeves … so to speak.
“I was living in Toolangi during the fires and businesses never got any business for months,” she said. “I thought I would just do up some T-shirts for Toolangi so they would have another stream of business and then people asked me to do them for Kinglake, Narbethong, Healesville, Yarra Glen and other places,” Ms Collier said.
Orders are now coming in from Gippsland.
The “giveashirt” T-shirts are being sold online as well as through local businesses. Ms Collier said $5 profit from each shirt sold online was channelled back to the communities nominated on the T-shirt through their local Chamber of Commerce.
Businesses buy the T-shirts for $15 and sell them for $20 and keep the $5 profit. Some are donating the profit to a local group or charity.
Local businesses selling the T-shirts include Toolangi Tavern and The Singing Gardens Tea Rooms at Toolangi, De Bortoli, Immerse, Balgownie and Mandala wineries and Healesville Chamber of Commerce through Yarra Valley Winery Tours in Healesville’s East End. Many businesses are opting for the generic I ‘LOVE’ Yarra Valley”.
A tally of sales is updated regularly on the website with Toolangi in the top position so far and there is plenty of opportunity for different communities to engage in a bit of healthy competition for top spot.
Ms Collier said she is funding the project with a guarantee that $5 from each garment is going back into the community.
When the venture comes to an end, she said any surplus funds will also go back to the participating communities.
More information is available on the website giveashirt.com.au or phone Ms Collier on 0431 027 141.