The Yellow Bird Story

Continuing with yesterdays 'as bright as cheddar' theme, I present to you The Yellow Bird Project

Set up by duo Casey & Matt, this non-profit organisation is thought of by them as ‘a tree of creativity’, and rightly so. They have managed to link together some of their favourite indie musicians and charitable organisations, with fashionable and unique t-shirts which are sold on their website. They seek out various artists and collaborate with them to design some really quirky looking colourful t-shirts, and when someone like you decides to buy one, all of the profits are given to charities of the artists’ choice, and you end up with an awesome new piece for your wardrobe that has a rather nice background story to it.

Bands/Artists they have collaborated with recently include the credible likes of Bon Iver, the National, Editors, Bloc Party, Rilo Kiley, and Tegan & Sara to name just a few. 

And you won’t just find t-shirts in the store; there are official YBP hoodies and t-shirts and pin badges, as well as the Indie Rock Colouring Book which is a ‘unique expression of art & music’ illustrated with the helping hands of Andy J Miller. 

 "I like coloring books. I also like charity. So as you can imagine, I definitely like this!"
- Russell Lissack of Bloc Party

"This is the greatest coloring book since coloring was invented. I've decided to have kids just so I'll have somebody to give this book to."
- Matt Berninger of The National

As you can see, this book appears to have made waves even with the likes of grown men who are cool and in bands, so I think it’s clear that this is one for everybody. Again,  all profits of these go to various charities supported by YBP. Sweet like chocolate.

 all photos from yellowbirdproject.com

YBP’s 3 missions are:

‘To raise money for charities directly through the barter and trade of our fab tee-shirts.
To raise awareness for charity organizations and their aims through artists’ endorsement.
To raise the profile of artists we like.’

The creative pair behind the YBP have managed to combine all the things that they are passionate about into one really unique and creative company. When you think about it, enlisting the help of famous musicians to design some cool t-shirts which you then sell is a pretty clever yet simple idea. And once again, the fact that they are operating entirely as non-profit is extremely commendable, and they should both give themselves high fives. Bravo. 

Check out the goods @  http://www.yellowbirdproject.com/

These kinds of companies that I have discovered since embarking on my blog have really opened my eyes to brilliant things that exist out there in our world, but are often diamonds in the rough, which many people are completely unaware of. I think this is one of the main problems, which is one of the initial reasons why I began this blog – I want to raise people’s awareness of how fashion can and is linking with charity organizations. What we need to do is create more exposure for them in places that reach vast numbers of people simultaneously, such as online blogs, fashion magazines & websites, and social networking sites such as Facebook & Twitter. 

And all of YOU can help too, just by talking to other people about what you’re reading on here, as well as anything else that you stumble upon and deem juicy with goodness, and by changing some of your buying habits and perhaps visiting one of the many companies’ websites that I have written about and choosing to order a gift for someone from there rather than the usual places that you shop. This almost guarantees you ending up with something unique and different rather than the same old tat that everyone robotically consumes from the high street. Who wants to be a sheep and end up looking like a clone of the plastic mannequin in the window of Topshop? Not me, that is for sure.