Clothing that entices the wearer to perform Act of Random Kindness. This is the beautiful idea behind the label ARK. The idea came to a then eighteen year old Belfast born Cameron Stewart in 2008.
The label/movement which has now spread to Australia, is all about wearing sustainable fashion and re-connecting people to one another. Their clothing line is made up of a range of guys and girls t-shirts and recently they brought out a range of undies too.
I just had to talk to the young lad who came up with this clever idea and find out exactly how this whole thing came about. Here’s what transpired.
The idea for ARK came to you while you were hiking. How did that exactly come about?
I was doing the Duke of Edinborough Award which involved four days hiking up a mountain. We were just talking about starting a business and the original idea was to come up with something that would make us millions so we could retire at 30. But then I started to think, do I really want to invest my life into something just to make myself rich? And I figured that I didn’t. Up to that point I’d really been practicing the whole Acts of Random Kindness philosophy and really found a lot of life in it and fun in it as well. So I thought, why not create a clothing brand that would represent something beautiful. A new way of life.
Why are random acts of kindness so important?
For me it brings back connection with society that we have lost so easily. I think you can look at it in a cheesy way, let’s love everybody, but really it’s a lot deeper than that. I think when you engage in acts of random kindness with strangers it connects you with that person and for me it really reminds you of what life’s about. Society tells us that we should go out and earn all the money for ourselves and look out for number one but really when you start looking out for others that’s when you really find fulfillment.
You went to China to inspect where ARK’s t-shirts were being made. What was that like and how do you ensure your t-shirts are being made in an ethical way?
I was only 18 at the time and I’d just left school. I toured around different factories and saw them in all different shapes and sizes and in fairness to the Chinese I never saw a bad one. I saw the factory ARK t-shirts were going to be made in and the workers looked happy but I guess you can only tell to a certain extent, you just have to trust people. But now we’ve changed our manufacturer to a place in Turkey which couldn’t be more ethical. They are completely fair trade, workers rights, they have everything. It’s the way things are going. People aren’t going to want to buy tops that aren’t ethically made.
What does ARK do with the money it makes from selling its t-shirts and undies?
We don’t make profit on the underwear, that was just for fun. A lot of the money from the t-shirts goes into making more t-shirts to spread the movement and keep the business working. The plan for the future when we make our millions, if ever is to set up a trust fund or a charitable fund where we fund projects that we feel help bring back this connection into society.
One project hopefully we can take on this year is a yellow bench campaign. We want to put a yellow bench in every major city around the world with a little plaque on it that explains that by sitting on this yellow bench you are open to conversation with a complete stranger. We’re not so much a charity in where we give our money to people who don’t have it but rather invest in re-connecting this dis-connected society and spread the whole idea of being kind.
What sort of random acts of kindness do you do on a weekly basis?
My favourite one, is our coffee sleeves we have designed. One of my favourite Ark’s is buying a coffee for a stranger or just the person behind me. So when you buy an ARK T-shirt the coffee sleeve is the swing tag. You cut it off and you buy a coffee, put it around it and give it to someone. The sleeve reads, ‘here’s a simple ARK to get you started. Why not grab a cup of tea pop on this sleeve and give it Steve.’
Another great one is buying birthday presents for people when it’s not their birthday. I make it a rule for myself not to buy presents for friends on their birthday instead just buy them during the year when they are completely not expecting it.
What’s next for ARK?
Hopefully we’ll expand our range. To get our message out to Australia, America and the Japanese. The focus is on spreading the word to those areas. At the moment it’s just been Ireland which is so tiny. We also want to get as many radio stations on board with our Friday challenge too. Then who knows. Maybe even start an ARK Airline. Giving away free airline tickets.
Want a piece of the action? Check out their website: http://www.arkhq.com/www
Or join their Facebook page where every Friday a new ARK challenge is posted up for you to try.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment