Danvers HS Students Looking to Donate 100 Shirts this Christmas

Danvers Sophomores Kasey Allain, Elodie Poussard and Senior Zoe Barham are hoping to do a just little bit more with their DECA business project than simply make money.

Their goal is to help as many people as possible who are in situations of need with brand new shirts, starting with donating 100 shirts this Christmas to those in need locally.

"We read that when disasters strike, alot of people donate used clothing, but that more often than not, the clothing is really not fit to be donated in the first place, causing volunteers the aggravation of sorting, storing and usually throwing those donations away. We wanted to do better." says Wear It Forward "CEO" Elodie Poussard who also heads up "product development".

Wear It Forward has been a "back burner" project for several years which developed after a major natural disaster occurred. The girls realized that weeks after such an event, people would lose interest as coverage of the event was quickly replaced with fresh news stories. It grew harder to sell awareness and support items only a couple of weeks after the event.

"We needed to come up with a way to make money all the time so that we could be in a position to actually do something when it was needed, not react after an event, " says Zoe Barham, "Chief Financial Officer".

"We decided to sell clothing - everybody needs clothes - and for every item purchased, a shirt would be donated to somebody who needs it," added sophomore Kasey Allain who heads up Sales.

So the girls got to work creating a line of clothing that could be sold year-round working with local screen printer Ben Franklin Tees in Danvers. Partnering with a local business keeps their product "local" and owner Joe Schulte worked with the girls to create a system that would accommodate their gifting strategy.

Not only are the shirts "doing" good, they are spreading a positive message to those who read them. The most popular shirt is "CHARACTER" which bears the definition of the word, and is the one that generates the most interest.

"We are excited to have partnered with a major bank in customizing a Character shirt in the bank's corporate colors and their logo" adds Kasey. "They keep an inventory on hand to give out at conferences and events".

"Well, we all want to be a person of character, so it's a great message and a reminder to always do better," says Elodie, who is constantly designing new shirts. Recent additions to the line are comfy sweatpants with the popular WEAR IT FORWARD logo, a "DANVERS WEARS IT FORWARD" shirt in Danvers Blue, and currently being printed are a new signature logo only design long-sleeve t-shirt for winter.

"With the holidays coming, it's the perfect time to think about giving, and we can't think of a better way to give than buying a shirt from Wear It Forward - it just keeps on giving!", Zoe adds.

The girls are hopeful their project will also take them to the DECA State and maybe even National competitions in 2018.

"Even if we don't win, we kind of already did, and so do others" says Elodie. "It's a feel good kind of thing."

Which makes their tagline "Look good, do good, feel good" so fitting.

You can find the girl's clothing line at the website they manage themselves at WEARIT-FORWARD.COM , or pop into their "pop-up shop" located at Lauren Poussard Studio, 44 Maple Street, Unit 1, 2nd Floor, downtown Danvers above Goodies.