KARACHI: Having launched just last year as a small-time entrepreneurial venture triggered by personal experiences of the owner, Virgin Teez has grown leaps and bounds. While their motto stands at ‘one shirt, one cause’, the label’s major aim is to target the lack of education in our country as well fight against malnutrition of the masses.
Moeez Javed Rizvi, the man behind the ‘selling-for-charity’ clothing line, recently launched his new line of Virgin Teez in line with the purpose of Ramazan. The 24-year-old business owner, along with six team members, is working to help the society from a small office in Liberty area, Lahore. They have managed to grow and partner with many other NGOs.
“Instead of limiting ourselves to a single cause, we are pushing for more. Some people call it ambitious, we call it common sense,” says Rizvi.
“We feel that the best way of giving back to people is investing in them fully — which means that we are not just sending children to school but also providing their parents and other members of their community with jobs through manufacturing in and sourcing from countries we are serving,” he adds.
Rizvi believes that by taking such a deep-rooted approach, they are, in a way, laying the foundation for lasting change.
Over time, the T-shirt label has partnered with NGOs like Hope Public Foundation, SAVE The Deserving Children and Next Generation Pakistan, who act as intermediaries for the business. These organisations buy shirts from Virgin Teez and then sell them off for the cause they stand for.
Rizvi highlights that 43 % of the sales proceedings are given off for charity. For example, if a shirt costs Rs1,000, then Rs430 will be contributed towards a charitable cause.
“One single child’s education fee is around Rs430 per month at a public school, so that is fair enough. On the other hand, one shirt purchased by the Hope Public Foundation, feeds about 28 meals to a hungry person. That works out well too,” he says.
He also points out that the tag at the back of his T-shirt indicates which charity it is connected with and which cause the charity stands for.
Introducing 20 new designs, this year, Rizvi’s main aim is to target growing MNCs and general customers, since both of them are capable enough to buy these T-shirts and in turn, contribute towards eradicating these two major problems that exist in our society.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 2nd, 2013.
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