Mission & Activities
Who I am: My name is Jeremy Pingul and I’m a 26-year-old Filipino-American working towards connecting the world to sustainable clothing.
Why sustainable: The way our society consumes clothing has led to global issues such as the destruction of the Aral Sea (losing 90% of its water for cotton irrigation), child labor on the cotton fields and the factories, GMO and destructive agriculture, and an overconsumption fashion mentality.
My Mission: To build a community of people who have a global mindset and support sustainable fashion by working with artists/designers from around the world, and sustainable local producers of cotton and clothing in Turkey. The goal is to not only help people see how we are all interconnected through clothing, but how we can all be part of the solution.
How do I do it: I collaborate with conscious artists and designers around the world to create apparel, which will be sustainably sourced from a local, responsible, organic cotton clothing supply chain. COT then helps sell this clothing internationally to conscious consumers, while promoting the source of where the clothing came from and connecting them to the artists and designers on social media.
So far:
- Partnership with an organic cotton clothing producer in Izmir, Turkey, which sources its cotton from the local Aegean region, some of the best quality cotton in the world because of its climate, and is certified by the Global Organic Textile Standard. This means that all parts of the supply chain, from the cotton fields to the yarn producers, the fabric makers, dyers, printers, and garment producers are all environmentally sustainable, socially responsible, and most importantly traceable.
- Partnership with several international artists who will be creating their designs based on what they believe "Connect One" means, which will be printed on the organic cotton T-shirts with toxic-free inks.
- We’ve printed the first COT shirt at a printing conference! It looks great!
Next:
- USD 30,000 crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo to afford the production of the clothing (~2000 shirts). If you want to help, check the opportunities on C@rma or on Indiegogo.
- Building our community on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and other social media channels
- Building the e-commerce site for USA and Europe
- Connecting the world to conscious artists and sustainable clothing!!! Let’s make an impact!
General Information
Web: cothreads.org
Facebook: facebook.com/connectonethreads
Twitter: twitter.com/cothreads
Instagram: instagram.com/connectonethreads
TEDxTalk: http://youtu.be/NMxpQHHiEsA
Main figures & Metrics
| 2015 Exp | |
| # Bale of organic cotton sold | 10 (around 10.000 Tee-shirts) |
| # of Artists/Designers Supported | |
| Global Reach of Awareness (web traffic, social media) | |
| # of organic cotton clothing produced | |
| ... |
Source of funds
Initial capital from personal funds and future crowdfunding, but in the future 100% will come from sales of sustainable clothing.
