Project Repat purchases amazing t-shirt castoffs from secondhand markets around the world, brings these spectacular t-shirts home with our team of volunteers, and then rebrands and resells the shirts in the United States in support of nonprofits active in the developing world. At Project Repat, we're harnessing the power of your old t-shirt to support developing world markets far away and local nonprofits around the corner.
About Project Repatriation:
Have you ever wondered what happened to that favorite t-shirt you owned five years ago? Maybe your mom cleaned out your closet while you were away at college sleeping through class? Your ex-girlfriend refused to give it back after that fateful breakup in Starbucks? Or maybe there's no one to blame but yourself and you simply got rid of that t-shirt before it was time?
It's very possible that your misfortune resulted in someone else's gain right here in the United States at the local Goodwill. But a much larger and more adventurous percentage of old t-shirts are sold (yes, we said sold) by the Goodwill or Salvation Army to t-shirt middlemen. These shirts are packed in giant crates and make the long journey to the center of the used t-shirt markets of the developing world where they are resold to local businesses in Kenya, Tanzania, Costa Rica, Haiti, and scores of other places. And while an abundant supply of slightly less awesome, hip, and ironically hilarious t-shirts are always available for purchase by consumers in these countries, the real tragedy occurs when t-shirts like yours are sent away too soon to foreign lands without achieving their maximum potential domestically. Let’s call it…premature deportation.
It's time you met Project Repat. Our mission is to repatriate the underachieving t-shirts that left before it was time and deserve a second chance to bring happiness (or at least an ironic chuckle) right here in the US of A. More importantly, your forgotten t-shirt came back a double hero, supporting local markets when repurchased in the developing world and using 100% of all profits from resale here in the States to support nonprofit organizations improving lives in the countries from which they were repatriated.
