A couple of weeks ago I received a great package from dfrntpigeon. A streetwear label run by the nonprofit New Avenues for Youth. Based in Portland, the urban lifestyle and apparel brand is a social enterprise with a mission to provide design training, business skills, and financial opportunities to help at-risk youth develop their creative abilities into a potential career path.
These budding entrepreneurs are creating a brand that speaks volumes to their lives and passions. Each piece sold helps the youth take steps towards economic independence and offers the support they need to not only rise from poverty but take flight through a supportive enterprise whose sole goal is to empower their success.
The Identity Spring 2017 collection is a line of t-shirts that address and challenge the perceptions of identity relating to personal representation, social dynamic, and language. In this colorful collection, the t-shirts feature graphics that very from American Sign Language to cultural icons like the Statue of Liberty.
My favorite shirt out of the spring collection was the CRISIS tee. This graphic is on a treated t-shirt with the word CRISIS stamped out in bold black letters on the front. The symbolic t-shirt can mean for one person, an internal battle and for another an external struggle. It’s a message that whatever the “crisis” it can’t be ignored. The CRISIS tee starts at $26 with other apparel and goods ranging just below that.
In addition to the well-made t-shirt, the marketing behind this brand is excellent as well. My shirt was packaged neatly, wonderfully wrapped, and contained a handwritten note from Olivia one of the designers of dfrntpigeon. The box also contained more information about the brand and a professional and trendy lookbook all very impressive for a brand that is just getting its start!
I encourage my fellow seekers to check out this stylishly good label taking flight from my new friends on the west coast. Check out how I rocked my CRISIS tee from the collection below. Grab one for yourself and support these young creatives by shopping the spring collection now available at dfrntpigeon.com.
