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You read that right. The University of Tennessee-Knoxville raised just shy of $1 million for an anti-bullying nonprofit through sales of a screenprinted t-shirt. The tee was based on the homemade design of a Florida 4th grader who was a Tennessee fan and wanted to show his support at his school’s college colors day. While he didn’t have any Tennessee gear, he made a hand drawn “UT” sign and attached it to an orange t-shirt. When he arrived at school, excited to show off his tee, some kids made fun of him and his teacher noted it in a Facebook post. The post went viral and once the University of Tennessee caught wind of it they stepped up big time. The VolShop turned the boys homemade design into the print for the official Tennessee t-shirt that was sold to benefit STOMP Out Bullying, and the University offered the boy a scholarship for when he comes of college age. Beyond the feel-good factor and other important lessons, the story demonstrates the ability of thoughtfully conceived branded merchandise/promotional products to raise money to support worthy causes and to create solidarity, support and powerful emotional connections with target audiences.

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Always on the lookout for ways to support and show our appreciation to the members of our armed forces, we came upon this program recently and made a donation. It’s a really cool organization that was founded by a family whose son was serving in Afghanistan. As it turns out, deployed soldiers aren’t provided with sneakers. So with the support of individuals and organizations around the country, the founders began purchasing high quality sneakers at a discount and sending them to the men and women serving in the combat zones in Afghanistan. You can check out their website for the full story at sneakersforsoldiers.org. And we hope you too will consider supporting our troops where they need it most… their feet.

Here at Custom Logos we’ve printed millions of t-shirts and assorted garments over our 30 year history and we always get a kick out of seeing our shirts out in public. The shirts we print are used for a variety of causes, and in this case were a big hit for school spirit day at St. Patrick Catholic School in Carlsbad. We always enjoy seeing pictures of our handiwork in action and thought this was so cute we couldn’t resist sharing.

In our continued efforts to give back to the community some members of our staff participated in this year’s Business and Youth Expo and luncheon. Sponsored by Explore Solutions, the expo is a career exploration event that provides San Diego County high school seniors who have been selected by their principals and given the opportunity to learn from, and be inspired by, the career journeys of local professionals. Ron White and Laura Cunningham represented our design group while Caroline Morgan discussed opportunities in the field of business development. It was a great event that hopefully helps shape the future for young adults, our local workforce and our greater community.