ONE’s Next Top T-shirt

Oct 29th, 2009 9:38 AM UTC
By Chalya Shagaya

Right now, ONE has thousands of fair-trade certified, 100% organic African cotton, African-made T-shirts sitting in a warehouse just waiting for the perfect design to make them not only a symbol of our work to end global poverty and disease, but a must-have item this holiday season.

So we’re turning to you, ONE’s 2 million members, and asking you to submit a great T-shirt design and help us come up with ONE’s Next Top T-shirt. Not the creative type? That’s okay, you can still take a moment and forward this email to the people you know whose talents could bring attention to our cause.

As a fashion consultant, former model, native of Nigeria, and passionate ONE member, I’m excited to announce this open challenge to find the design for ONE’s new T-shirt. ONE will accept designs until 3 November at 10 pm GMT/UTC, at which point I’ll join multi-platinum recording artist Daughtry, noted designer and “Top Design” judge Jonathan Adler, and a distinguished panel of fashion and design experts to pick the top three T-shirts designs. ONE members will then have a week to vote for their favorite of the final three designs, which will be printed and put
on sale in late November.

The person submitting that winning design will have a huge impact on how ONE is seen globally. We look forward to adding their T-shirt to the line of creative ONE merchandise already available in the ONE Store, as well as celebrating her or his contribution as part of the new T-shirt’s launch to ONE members and the general public.

What we wear says a lot about who we are. The 25,000 plain T-shirts already tell a story of commitment to helping countries in Africa and across the developing world trade their way to a better future. The right design has the power to go even further, and spark a global conversation. It starts with “I love your shirt, what does it mean?” and ends with greater awareness of the role we can all play in ending poverty and disease in some of the most vulnerable places on earth.

I hope you’ll help us create ONE’s Next Top T-shirt and prove that great design can make a difference.

Thank you and good luck,

Chalya Shagaya, ONE member

Chalya Shagaya is a former model and currently works as an International Fashion Stylist, Consultant & PR manager. She has held several positions in the fashion industry, producing fashion shows and music videos. From Nigeria, Chalya also works with African designers like Deola Sagoe and Korto Momolu of “Project Runway”, as well as a number of African recording artists.

TAGS: ONE, Spotlight