We now have three shirts styles for sale at the Fairgrounds in New Orleans at 3 kiosks located throughout the facility. The “Hey Mista”, “I Fleur NOLA” and “Pinch My Tail designs are all for sale. If you are there and win, spare some change on a shirt! (let it ride)
Pearl of Wisdom – “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.” ~Les Brown
Ladies and Gents, two new designs just rolled out. Both of these have to do with the great state of Louisiana. There is a catch, we are only going to print one of these designs. Whichever one gets more LIKES on facebook will be printed.  If you LIKE and SHARE then you are entered to win the first shirt printed. Oh Yeah! Contest ends Monday, September 20th.
This beauty is called The Real LA 2. Click the link below LIKE it and SHARE it to win it free!
This one is for the ladies, sorry guys, but if you want brownie points LIKE and SHARE. Â If you are a LA girl throw your hand up! Click the link below to LIKE and SHARE!
US entries only, winner will be chosen via random.org at the end of the contest. Winners are emailed directly please leave a valid email address or blog address if you’d like to be contacted should you win. Winner has 72 hours to claim their prize. This contest ends at 11:59 pm CST on September 20th, 2010.
If you haven’t noticed yet we just posted 4 new Saints designs in our New Orleans section. (Do I smell a repeat?)
The first of these is a shirt called “Second Line.”  Here it is http://bit.ly/9tGYHe This shirt was inspired by the the famous New Orleans dance, line or whatever you want to call it. Tradition says that in brass band parades the “main line” would be the actual members of the parade or club, while the second line would be everyone else parading behind them twirling a handkerchief or parasol in the air. This is done at events such as weddings, funerals, parties, etc. If you are ever in a situation were people start to get in line and twirl napkins, just grab a napkin off of your table, twirl it and blend right in. You can’t really screw it up. Traditions like this is what makes New Orleans the great, unique place that it is. Also, the Saints make New Orleans an amazing place, so why not combine the two. The Saints form a line when they play and New Orleanians also form a lines when they play, so Bam! a shirt is made. Oh by the way, our Saints second line can probably beat most teams first lines. Amen.
The second design is a little beauty called “dat” Here it is: http://bit.ly/acJort This shirt combines our i Am logo with a the word dat and a fleur-de-lis thrown in for kicks. The Saints “Who Dat” story is a long one; if you are interested here it is http://bit.ly/8QowsJ What I do know is that my great-grandmother always used sayings such as sha, make groceries, etc… and instead of saying that, it was always dat. It was just part of her and many other native New Orleanian’s dialect. So instead of Who Dat, i Am Dat shows a true New Orleans native.
The third design is called “gametime.” Here it is: http://bit.ly/9usIjW Spell check keeps telling me its suppose to be two words, but we like it as one. This shirt has a helmet with the word gametime below it. When you strap on this shirt you know what time it is? Gametime!
The fourth design is called “laser.” Here it is http://bit.ly/9jvoLq This has Breesus’ number 9 with laser written in jersey lettering. Why Laser? Because he throws pigskin just as fast and accurate as a laser. For some reason when watching the games laser comes up a lot, so I thought it was a fitting nickname. Not to mention Drew is just such a cool cat. He is a real stand up guy and a community leader.
I hope everyone enjoys the shirts. Of course, just like every other shirt $2 goes to charity. Our New Orleans section charity is The Greater New Orleans Foundation. Check them out http://www.gnof.org/ Good People.
The most lightning that I have ever seen from the flight deck. Don’t worry it is about 80 miles away. This is uncut and the music just fit perfectly. Insane.
I was reading on Humid Beings today, a local New Orleans online community, and a story about FeelGoodz flip flops came up. This caught my attention because FeelGoodz actually inspired me to start the i Am brand. Apparently, the oil spill caused a shipment of flip-flops to be delayed for two months in the Bahamas. Because of this, the flops could not be delivered to 75 Whole Foods stores. Flip flop sales are a seasonal item and Whole Foods is already looking to make room for Fall and Winter items. Now FeelGoodz has 10,000 unsold flip flops and a $50,000 dollar loan to be paid by the 18th of the month to Drop the Chalk.
Read more here http://bit.ly/bYSfq4
So why do I care? Well Kyle Berner, a young entrepreneur, gave me the drive to start the i Am brand. I heard about FeelGoodz through an article in the Times Picayune about a young entrepreneur who was selling the most comfortable flip flops and giving back to Thailand. I thought man, that is a really cool idea, I wish that I could start a business that I was passionate about and gave back somehow, someway. I was 22 at the time, so when I read about his story, and saw him in an interview it really gave me confidence that I, myself, could run a similar type of business at my age. Life went on and I decided to start a t-shirt business that donated back to charities related to particular shirts, hence the i Am brand. Now, two years later I see that FeelGoodz is in trouble from the oil spill. What? Seriously. I read a little bit about it and thought well I have a flip flop design already, why not help him out. That is what we are all about. I immediately sent him an e-mail letting him know that I was willing to help in any way possible. Now 100% of the profits from the flip-flop shirt are going to FeelGoodz to pay Drop The Chaulk.
Every time you buy a shirt a free “lucky bean” arrives in the package. What? What the heck is a “lucky bean.” The technical term for the type of bean that you will receive is a Fava bean. These beans have a long tradition of cultivation in old word agriculture, being among the most ancient plants and also among the easiest to grow. Records show that they became part of the eastern Mediterranean diet around 6000BC or earlier. The bean became lucky, during a severe famine in Sicily. It was commonly used as animal fodder, but because of its resilience it became the sustaining food for farmers and their families during the famine. Because it was the sustaining food of human life, the bean was thought of as sacred. After the famine, people began to carry dried beans on them thinking that if one carries a fava bean, one will never be without the essentials in life. Others believe that the bean will bring you coin or money.  Some have given the bean a religious meaning. But to each is there own.
The bean that we send is a dried fava bean that has been painted green with a hand-drawn i Am on the side. We give this bean in the spirit that everyone have the essentials in life, which in reality is a happy existence. The hand-drawn i Am will hopefully remind you of who you are and the things that make you happy.
At the the i Am brand we hand screen print all of our own shirts and tags. No matter how you slice it chemicals have to be involved in the process. We try and keep our footprint small and use only the top of line eco-friendly chemicals in creating our awesome shirts.
First off, in screen printing, a silk screen must be prepared in order to transfer designs from the screen to the shirt. We clean all of our screens with EnviroClean. A citrus-based, non-hazardous, biodegradable, drain safe, and phosphate free cleaner. A normal screen degreaser would be a harsh chemical similar to paint thinner. After the screens are clean an emulsion is applied to the screen which enables us to transfer the graphic to the screen itself. In this process we use the same chemicals as every other screen printer (there is no eco-friendly version). It is a pretty safe chemical that we use sparingly. We are different in that in our process we do not reclaim any screens unless it’s a complete necessity. We keep one screen for each design, meaning that we are not constantly washing this emulsion down the drain like some other screen printers.
The next step is in the inks that we use, but that is for another post. Once the shirt is printed the ink needs to be cleaned off of the screen. For this, we use a chemical called EnviroSolv. This is a water-based, No VOC (Volatile Organic Compound), biodegradable, drain safe, non toxic cleaner. Other screen printers may use a chemical similar to paint thinner. In certain situations ink stains the screens after repeated use. Stain remover is usually one of the harshest chemicals in a screen printing shop. We use a chemical called EnvroHaze. This is a biodegradable, drain safe, Non-Hazardous, Non-Caustic, Neutral PH, and water soluble chemical. Wow. Who would use anything else?
In the event that a screen has to be reclaimed, meaning that the emulsion has to be stripped off of the screen in order to put a new design on the screen. Emulsion removers are often thought to be caustic and harmful to the environment. Our shop uses EnviroStrip which is an all natural iodine-based emulsion stripper that is mined from the Earth. It’s non-hazardous, drain safe, and dilutes with water. There are a few more chemicals that are used in the process such as adhesives, in which we use a liquid version, not an aerosol like many others.
Keep in mind that these are still chemicals and there is no perfect solution, but if every shirt we create has the least effect on the environment as possible. That is what makes us happy. If you have your doubts feel free to check out the manufacturers website: http://www.ccidom.com/search.php?search_query=enviro&x=0&y=0
As you can see we try and use the most eco-friendly chemicals and practices in everything that we do. We hope that someday most shops and consumers become aware of the many environmentally friendly options that are available and do the right thing for not only themselves, but for our Earth and its future residents.
Pearl of Wisdom “Are you green and growing or ripe and rotting?”
This the first blog post of the i Am brand authored by Matt, the founder. Its been a long road for the i Am brand to launch, but everything seems to be coming together. About a year and a half ago the idea for i Am came about from a mesh of other ideas that I had been contemplating since high school. The website and designs have really took more time than expected, but nothing worth while is going to be easy. Many long, tired nights have gone into this company and it is finally time to show the world how we roll.
Overall, I hope everyone enjoys the shirts and what they stand for. We are open to any suggestions from anyone on improving our products and services. Giving back is one of our main goals so if you know of any good charities or ways to promote our brand send us an email at info@theiambrand.com.
The goal of this blog is to show the progression of the company, both good and bad, from events to news, to just random experiences. We hope you enjoy. Cheers.
