You know the old saying by Edison that inspiration is perspiration.
When the pandemic hit in 2020, many of us were inspired with ideas about how we could help our communities.
Showpony is a branded merch company located in Augusta, GA and together with their sister company Wier/Stewart, a strategic creative firm, they too wondered how they could help.
They scrambled to put together a campaign called “We Give a Shirt,” the premise was simple: local companies --particularly those most impacted by the pandemic such as bars, restaurants, and local retail-- could sign up to have Showpony design a shirt, build an e-commerce shop, sell it, and ship it. All proceeds would go directly to the businesses that signed up.
And to tie in that Edison quote: Showpony shipped over 25,000 shirts, sold over $500,000 in total sales, and raised over $250,000 for local companies.
What started as a simple way to put money back in the pockets of their favorite bars and restaurants during the pandemic evolved into a full-fledged fundraising platform for local businesses, non-profit organizations, and schools, and causes across the state and beyond.
When I heard about the story, I hopped onto their website at showpony.co and fell absolutely in love with their irreverent but cheeky brand and their distinct voice, and when Showpony partner Sean Mooney and Showpony’s Merchandise Designer Lindsay Buschermohle decided to show up and talk about not only this project but multiple projects, what I was really sold on was their conviction. We chat about multiple topics:
The mechanics of pulling off that massive project.
The primacy of design in establishing competence
And, as many of us are in the process of rethinking our office spaces with some of us rethinking the showroom experience, we talk about their stunning showroom and the purpose behind it.
We chat about a lot more, where they derive inspiration, lessons learned from that massive project and the realization that what they and you and I do every day, on items like a simple t-shirt, can greatly impact our world.
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