Wearable Justice
In 2014, through a community-based learning class at Georgetown, Jake Maxmin had an idea. A few months later, SIPS funded his company, Wearable Justice, to expand his inventory and provide Georgetown students with ethical fashion choices. Wearable Justice is a nonprofit registered ethical fashion distribution company aimed at serving university students nationwide by providing aesthetically-pleasing and ethically-produced clothing products. Wearable Justice aims to address issues of wage left, slave labor, exploitation, environmental pollution, and community development in poor countries.
“SIPS helped me to achieve my dream. SIPS gave me the money to expand my inventory and provide Georgetown students with ethical fashion choices. Without them, I would not have been able to offer students everything they need. Before SIPS, I was only able to provide students with shirts, socks, and scarves. After SIPS, we were able to carry backpacks, sweatshirts, bags, purses, jewelry, belts, and so much more. SIPS gave me the money to expand my company and help it to reach its potential. SIPS enabled my company to increase its social impact, maximize the amount we can give back, and expand our inventory to more than I ever dreamed possible.” -Jake Maxmin
During his freshman year of college, Jake Maxmin wanted to provide his peers with the ability to become conscious consumers. Every day he saw his classmates walking to M street to buy their clothes, supporting brands that used sweatshops and not thinking about where their clothes came from. “This seemed so counter-intuitive to me. We were going to one of the top schools in the nation, learning about social justice and issues around the world, yet every day we were supporting slave labor. How could this disconnect be possible?” Maxmin said. Currently, Wearable Justice works with seven companies and buy bulk wholesale stock from these companies. These companies include Lallitara Apparel, Jamela Oil, Bureh Belts, Estrella de Mar, Himalayan Spirit 8848, Della, and Good Hyouman. Wearable Justice then turns this stock around and redistribute it on campus at student-discounted prices, keeping the clothing and accessories we sell at an affordable price for college students. Wearable Justice only works with socially responsible companies that produce ethical products. Most of the companies that Wearable Justice works with source their labor and products in ethical and sustainable ways from developing countries.
Through this project, Wearable Justice not only supports the companies it works with and their socially responsible missions, but also the communities and the workers its partners employ. Wearable Justice works to improve the Georgetown community by educating students and making it a campus of conscious consumers that make intelligent and informed choices about the type of apparel they choose to way. Furthermore, Wearable Justice donates its profits to DC-based charities at the end of every semester to benefit the community in which it operates.
“If we can all create innovative solutions to everyday problems our world will be a more thoughtful and constructive place?”