The Stately Shirt Co. + Elevate

Partnering with Elevate is an opportunity for The Stately Shirt Co. to help make an impact in people's lives in a larger way than "Instilling state pride" could ever do. Elevate is making an impact in Asia, specifically in India, helping nationals not by giving a handout, but by enabling them to create, work and begin a cycle that can help sustain a community.

Beginning in May of 2016, 10% of all profits will be donated to Elevate to continue equipping them in making an impact in Asia. Not only are you purchasing an original, unique and awesome product to show off your state pride, you are helping nationals in Asia fulfill dreams that Americans can perhaps accomplish freely and greater ease.

This is a small step in helping with something that is much larger than ourselves and The Stately Shirt Co. We hope you can come along with us as we help nationals in Asia! We hope you take a moment to learn a little about Elevate by reading below. Please visit them at elevate-people.com.

At Elevate, we raise people up to a higher position by giving opportunities that lead to holistic empowerment. Through our handcrafted leather goods, we are able to give our artisans opportunities so they can provide for themselves and their families. An arrow in our logo is symbolic of our purpose: to lift people up to a high position.

Our national partners not only help artisans to create financial sustainability for their families, but train them to become leaders and visionaries. Elevate's hope is that our national leaders will begin dreaming to help more people in and outside of their city and that our artisans will become the ones to continue the movement.

As we walked the streets, distraught day after day, among endless poverty and seeming hopelessness, we have found hope. It began as a friendship and led to a movement. Humbly, we have seen that a simple extension of opportunity can change someone’s life.

While living in South Asia, we quickly realized that in order to best serve the people in our area, we needed to form trusted partnerships with national people. It didn’t take long to see that we were not the right people for the job! No matter how dark our skin got from the sun, we could never fully play the role that nationals are able to within their own culture among their own people.

At first, we watched for leaders who were already making impacts in their community. Our relationship with our first national partners began as an informal, organic crossing-of-paths. We have met many wonderful people in South Asia, but this time it was different. There was a humility and peace that drew us to them.

You could call it divine. This family we found is not in any spotlight, and it's a sheer miracle that we even met them. We slowly became friends and then we basically became family without ever intending to start Elevate or anything like it.

One day, we knew. We gathered together for lunch, and they told us the heartaches and joys of their story. While the tears were flowing, they stated their overall vision and we cried along with them as our visions aligned perfectly. To see community transformation that offers hope and joy to the hopeless.

After this day, the dreams seemed possible and the vision was cast. We decided to start a business in their country that they would hold the responsibility of. We had accountability in place and moved forward. Our next step was to create an organization here in the states that would place orders from the new business in South Asia.

With the profit from this business our brothers and sisters in South Asia want to branch out and open learning centers for children, women’s empowerment groups and so much more. They have had these dreams for so long and now they are able to achieve AND sustain them. We thank you and commend you for shopping on purpose!

We are not only focused on giving jobs, our national partners hope to lift up these artisans holistically. We don’t want them to stop at being leather workers. We want them to be able to have the opportunity to set goals and reach them, be inspired and inspire others, and have a community of people at work who accept them and encourage them. Our leather artisans are now able to have a job where they can grow

in community, be trained and encouraged to endure the immense difficulties they face and to be the people who will empower others.

"They are now able to achieve and sustain their dreams."