11 Aug 2017
Student entrepreneur launches Kickstarter campaign
A Loughborough student has launched a Kickstarter campaign for his ethical clothing venture, The Social Mercenary (TSM).
Jack Fellows, who studies Banking, Finance and Management, founded the company in 2016 when he volunteered in Ghana with ICS Challenges Worldwide.
After making partnerships with local artisans and investing in the production of a small run of bags, he joined forces with Ethical Apparel Africa to produce TSM’s next generation of backpacks.
The funding campaign opened this week and is fast approaching £1,000 of the £10,000 target with 28 days to go (as of Friday 11 August).
Backers of the campaign will be supporting the large-scale production of backpacks, as well as other apparel such as t-shirts and caps. Profits will go towards purchasing a peak finisher, which will speed up the production of the TSM caps.
Discussing the campaign, Jack said: “From Ghana to Asia, we have taken African fashion across the globe. It started with ethical bags and now we are creating caps, t-shirts and backpacks.
“The Kickstarter is important because not only does it allow us to meet our first minimum factory order, but it shows that people really see the product as something special and ethically made.”