Fashion for a greater cause

A local apparel company has joined forces with a global movement to make a difference.

Designer t-shirt operation O’Shirt has teamed up with the Botswana Orphan Project (BOP) to launch an innovative fashion campaign titled 'Pay What It’s Worth'.

The Australian-based clothing company, co-founded by Botswanan Ryan Williams, operates as an awareness and fundraising platform for various causes.

This particular campaign will aim to help support BOP via designer t-shirt sales and is the first joint initiative of its kind.

Each fortnight O’Shirt will select a special designer to create a limited-edition t-shirt that embodies the cause that has been chosen for the campaign, with $7 of every shirt sold going towards the charity of choice.

For this particular campaign, finds will be funnelled into BOP, and the O’Shirt team has also decided to shake it up a little, adding the 'Pay What It’s Worth' tagline to give customers the option to “give even more to the cause”.

While O'Shirt has indicated that it is aware of the risk that customers also have the option to pay less, the company remains “positive and excited” for the response of its community.

O’Shirt co-founder, Williams, is a Botswanan who received a scholarship from the government to study in Australia. He is also the president and founder of the BOP.

BOP has built six orphanages in an effort to help alleviate the problematic situations arising from the HIV/AIDS crisis in Botswana, volunteers from Australia and Canada have and will be travelling into the country to construct Orphan Centres. The Orphan Centres will then be run by locals, international volunteers and local churches.

The goal now is to support the care of 350 children (which is BOP‘s target), whilst they pursue financial sustainability.