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Something Used was a company that I founded back in 2004. At first it started as a way for me to get more involved in my local music scene. I would book concerts and try to promote artists that I liked. This was a lot of fun, and over the first few years of the company's existence, I got a lot done. I would always attach a certain charitable component to the shows I was booking (bring a canned good for $1 off, a part of the proceeds goes to charity ____, etc.). The company had a MySpace account, and it developed a large following. I saw a business opportunity and decided to create some kind of physical product that I could market to this captive audience.
In 2008 I launched Something Used clothing, a small and simple clothing line. Five t-shirts were designed, and to keep everything simple I modeled the clothes myself. The t-shirts were sold on the company's MySpace page, and the marketing is what really sold it. The prices were priced very fairly (when thinking of our main audience - concert-going music fans and teens around the world), and every shirt was connected to a certain charitable cause (AIDS prevention, feeding people, etc.). Whenever someone purchased a certain shirt, Something Used would also make a quantifiable donation to the specified cause. So, when deciding what t-shirt someone liked best, they now had two factors going into their decision: what design and color suited them best, and what cause was nearest and dearest to them. The clothing line produced four lines, and sold hundreds of shirts. Our impact on the world was something that I am particularly proud of, even to this day. I will also always remember how people reacted to what we were doing, and to our innovative marketing ideas. I decided to end the company simply because I felt it had run it's course and I had to move on to other things, but it will always be something that I remember with the fondest of memories. |
Something Used Impact
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- 15,165,331.4 sq. ft. of large-cat territory protected
- 207,231 Pounds (207+ metric tons) of carbon pollution prevented - 32,000 sq. ft of ocean protected - 10,701.4 sq. ft. of rainforest protected - $7,400 in medicines donated - 3,673 letters sent to stop violence against women - 1,238 days of saving seals supported - 1,200+ meals - 7 children in Africa now have breakfast every day at school for a year - $310 to stop violence in Darfur - 350 condoms given out for free in poor communities in Africa - 200 girls, 2 months - we paid to support 200 girls for 2 months in school in Africa |
- $170 to the Salvation Army
- 169 days of eco-clean cooking for a family in the third world - $150 to the GlobalFund (fighting AIDS and malaria) - 100 trees planted - 90 clothing items donated - 70 days of AIDS medicine - we paid for 10 weeks of AIDS medicine to go to mothers and their children - 60 girls in Rwanda get a year of school (with supplies paid for) - $32 to Massachusetts Youth Pride - 27 books donated - 25 food items donated to local food pantries - $10 to the HRC |
