Every proceed is political. You choose the profit margin.
50% of profits generated from Every Shirt is Political go to the Southern Poverty Law Center, who are fighting hate, teaching tolerance, and seeking justice.
The other 50% of profits go to hues, a global justice collective of art, tools, and resources, in which Every Shirt is Political lives.
About those Profits: Enter the Gift Economy
And Every Shirt is Political is operated in the gift economy. We do this to resist capitalism, and also to operate in what we believe is the most just system for providing art and goods.
What it means, in short, is that you decide our profits.
Why “+” in the Prices?
Every item in the store has a “minimum” price, which is the bare material cost of the item + printing. Our labor is not factored into the base price, but provided as a volunteer service (e.g., Sam’s time designing the items, developing the site, and running the store).
Beyond the minimum price, you choose the the gift you make when buying an item.
So, hypothetically, if a shirt’s base cost (minimum price) is $17, and you choose to gift $25, you are creating $8 of profit, $4 of which will go to the SPLC and $4 of which will go to hues.
What else goes into the overhead?
So far, all of the contributions to this project (design, development, and management of the store) have been volunteer-based (supported by hues, and other community members). But we are paying for hosting (~$25/month, from Pressable [who are local-ish, and we’re happy to support]), and may occasionally run ads (e.g., on Facebook and Instagram) to expand the reach of the site. These costs will cut into the profits generated.
We will do everything to run this project on a bootstrap, and spend judiciously. The hope is that these expenses will be offset by contributions from you. And we’ll also be reporting both our spending and our giving when we have numbers to share. Subscribe to the blog for that.
Supporting other Justice Organizations
Our hope is to eventually branch out and support specific organizations with shirts that have messaging tied to their cause. If this is something you’d like to see, let us know on Facebook or Insta.
For now, however, we’re keeping it simple with 50/50 from every profit going to the SPLC and hues.
But don’t let us stop you. When it comes to supporting justice, we say give to whomever in whatever amounts you can.
