giving gifts & giving back

There's officially less than 1 week until Christmas! In past holiday seasons I've posted about some of the better options for gift-giving than the traditional over-consumption of unneeded, unnecessary presents. This year, my list is narrowed to 4 companies making a big difference around the world...and who offer awesome products that you can enjoy buying, wearing, and giving, while at the same time knowing you're giving something back to someone in need. Apologies in advance for being a bit late on this! ...So my 2008 picks are:

ROSA LOVES
www.rosaloves.com

This makes my list every year *but I'm sad to report that I posted on this too late, and new orders will now be shipped out after the New Year...but who doesn't love an I.O.U. :), and there are always birthdays!). Chris helped launch this non-profit company a little over 2 years ago with a good friend of ours. It's been steadily growing, and there is lots of new stories and shirts to check out. If you're not familiar with the concept: 1) someone is found with a need, 2) a shirt is designed from their story, 3) the shirt is sold until enough funds are raised to support the need, 4) the shirt is discontinued, but the process repeats with another story.


Check out some of the STORIES, and then buy a shirt...like Simple Machine that raises money to pay for the commissioning of recycled bikes, which will be given to people without any means of transportation , or Hope Transfusion which will help pay for a little boy in Iraq's life-saving heart surgery.

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TOMS SHOES
www.tomsshoes.com
I can't say enough about how much I ♥ TOMS Shoes. First of all, the company is quite amazing, and the shoes ROCK! They are some of the most comfortable shoes ever...you'll never want to take them off. Plus, they just came out with a new vegan line. I got my very own amazing red, plaid ones for the holidays!
The best thing, is that for every pair purchased, TOMS will give a pair of shoes to a child in need. It's called the "One for One" program, and they've sponsored shoe drops around the world in places like Africa, South America, and even here in the US. For the Christmas Season, they have a goal to give 30,000 pairs of shoes to Ethiopia! Watch this video and go buy a pair*!

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JEDIDIAH CLOTHING
www.jedidiahusa.com
So, yeah, this company is pretty much awesome, and is SUPER active in so many relevant ways...from art, music, surfing, design, mainly just "building community through clothing". Part of their entire sales goes back to non-profit groups that they support, and several specific collections are dedicated to giving back even more to these non-profit groups, such as Invisible Children, SurfAid International, Light Love and Melody, and others.

For example, The HOPE Collection is "a series of t-shirts designed to benefit certain humanitarian organizations and their causes. In addition to the revenue contributed through the 1% for humanity, Jedidiah will donate $10 per t-shirt sold from these ten collaborations to their respective social aid affiliates." Some good friends of mine work for them, and they also help support the group, Surfing the Nations, that organized the trip to Bangladesh that I went on. They're having some great holiday promotions (which end today) in their online store so GO SHOPPING!.

You can also check out this video to learn a bit more about the company*:

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PAPER ROOT CLOTHING
www.paperrootclothing.com

Our good friend, Greg Dettra, is an amazing screen-printer and overall creative guy. He does the screen-printing for Rosa Loves and has an awesome online selection of his own collection. Also, for the Christmas season, he's offering a special shirt where 50% of the proceeds from the sale will be donated to Toys for Tots! Plus, most all other items are on sale for the holidays. So....Check it out!

* email subscribers must click the blog link to view the videos online