"Can fashion fight poverty?"
That's the question Rise Up International, a humanitarian group that opened a flagship clothing boutique two blocks from the Downtown Phoenix campus April 12, is asking.
According to the group's MySpace page, the non-profit organization was founded by Bend, Oregon social workers and world-travelers Jesse and Maria Roberts "to eliminate the exploitation of children by providing them with safe homes, education, counseling, and empowerment projects."
"After high school, I traveled the world, saw poverty, met street kids, little girls selling their bodies to buy food … and I wanted to try to help," said Jesse, in a December 2007 interview published in The Land Salmon e-zine.
The clothing line was created when clothing store and boutique Urban Outfitters "picked up" the first T-shirt Jesse and his brother Seth designed for Rise Up, said Samuel Richard, an ASU nonprofit leadership and management junior and a friend of the Roberts.
Since 2006, the clothing from Rise Up, whose boutique is located at located at 204 N. Central Ave., has been sold in Urban Outfitters, Michael K and other retail shops in London, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Tokyo and New York.
"One of the things Jesse always says is, 'A lot of people don't want to sponsor an orphan, but everyone buys clothes,'" Richard said.
"There is no paid staff on the humanitarian side," he added.
All of the proceeds from the sales of Rise Up's clothing go back into the organization to support free educational centers, art schools and drug rehabilitation projects.
Jesse said, "Rise Up provides education for over 250 kids from the untouchable caste in India and … a vocational art school for kids leaving orphanages in China."
In Nicaragua, Rise Up provided treatment and a safe house to 25 glue-addicted street kids. And on the outskirts of the capital city of Managua, the Roberts established a school for children who live and work in the La Chureca garbage dump.
One of the La Chureca children, Josselin Carolina Rodrigues Quintana, is featured in Rise Up's advertising. Thanks to the humanitarian organization, Quintana is now receiving a formal education and hopes to become a fashion designer.
Rise Up's clothing is designed to be fashionable and politically and environmentally conscious. T-shirts in earthy hues like "ginger," "Texas orange" and "pistachio" endorse nature and anti-war themes.
Store manager Jeremiah Sazdanoff said one of the popular shirts features Jesus holding a "War Hurts" sign.
But Rise Up is more than a clothing store; Richard, who is also the president of the American Humanics Student Association said, "It's a social enterprise model."
Richard is studying the store in his social entrepreneurship class.
The Rise Up boutique "serves as a living laboratory for nonprofit organization models," he said. It's President Michael Crow's "social embeddedness idea in a nutshell," he added.
Rise Up "is on the edge of social entrepreneurship and enterprise," Richard said. "Its innovative ideas bring about social change. Instead of having a great idea and making money off of it, they have a great idea and change the world. That's really what the store is about."
Reach the reporter at: ksarver@asu.edu.
