Hats For The Homeless

Now here’s a nice idea – a clothing company promise to donate a woolly hat to a homeless person for each one they sell. Brilliant!

Two brothers from Manchester, Sean and Andy Geaney, started a clothing company called We Are What We Are whilst at university. The aim was to bring some fresh ideas and designs to street-wear.

But the brothers said they were keen to do something beyond sharing loose change and the odd cigarette with those who find themselves on the streets. So, in a bid to help the homeless, they have started ‘Hats for the Homeless’ from their base on the first floor of Affleck’s Palace in Manchester.

The plan is that Sean and Andy will donate a woolly hat to a homeless person every time they sell one of their own. They said: “We’ve seen the amount of people living on the streets growing substantially and it only seems to be getting worse with government cuts to all types of funding, particularly the cuts to mental health and housing services.”

“We were inspired by people we spoke to on the streets. The togetherness and resilience of groups like the Ark and the level of positivity of people on the streets. So we thought we would use the little platform we have and turn our helplessness into a bit of action.”

“The dream would be producing and selling enough so that we could provide some employment for those on the streets to help them get back on their feet. Over the summer we made plans to do a few designs with the aim of raising money and promoting awareness of mental health issues, which from direct conversations and a bit of research seems to be one of the biggest contributors to homelessness.”

“We’re in talks with who to donate the bulk of the hats to at the moment as we’re sure a charity is going to be better tooled up to manage the donation effectively. We also make sure that all our products are made ethically and are fair trade.” So, hat’s off to these ethical entrepreneurs!

Now winter has arrived you might be thinking about buying some warm headgear so why not help a homeless person, too? To find out more, go to their website www.wawwaclothing.com