UPDATE: Website is live!! Check us out on:
TheFeministShop.com
Hi! Welcome to our crowdfunding page. We are Virginia and Chris, the tired and proud parents of Eric and Nora and the co-founders of TheFeministShop.com, launching in September.
(That is us, back in the day when we used to sleep!)
The Feminist Shop is an information hub and online store selling ethically produced feminist gifts, apparel and books. We want to create a shop that not only sells the products we want to buy, but also one that represents our values and helps us give back to society (10% of our annual profits go to feminist charities). We believe The Feminist Shop does just that and would love to have your support for the launch of our new website.
This crowdfunding campaign is your opportunity to purchase limited edition pre-launch merchandise and product bundles before our website goes live. We've put together some great packs which give you exclusive products, great value and obviously help give us the big initial boost and vote of support we need for The Feminist Shop to make a powerful impact right from the very start.
To help us spread the word about what feminism is and how we can all benefit from it both as individuals and society as a whole, we have created the #ForMeForHer hashtag. So please, help us reach as many people as possible by sharing this campaign and videos on social media using the #ForMeForHer hashtag and make sure you follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Youtube for the latest products, upcoming events and more.
Thanks for joining us in reclaiming the F word!
We
are living exciting times - society keeps moving in the direction of sustainability,
we are shouting about the things we care about, and every day more people are putting money, time
and skills where their mouths and passions are. This is what we are doing with The Feminist Shop and why
we are fully invested in making it happen.
- We're creating an online hub to bring together information and resources, showcase feminist associations, share
recommendations and much more to fuel your feminism and fight against the
stigma.
- We're creating a shop that we would love to buy from and a brand that represents our values. All our products will be produced on demand, to avoid waste and unnecessary stock so even if this cuts our margin it means that we won’t be encouraging a model based on mass production and wastage. Our apparel is made of organic cotton, ethically produced and manufactured in facilities powered by green renewable energy, from low-impact raw materials. Also, the shipping will be plastic free!
- We're giving back. 10% of our gross profit (yep, that means we'll be donating even when our net profit is negative) will go to our partner associations. We love the idea of giving them a space to raise awareness, to showcase their amazing work, to invite people to donate or to collaborate but we understand they need the money too, and because we want to start as we mean to go on, 10% of this crowdfunding campaign will go directly to one of our local feminist partner associations: THE HOMELESS PERIOD BELFAST
The Homeless Period Belfast provides homeless and vulnerable women across Belfast with sanitary and other hygiene items.
Fighting the taboo that surrounds the topic, and acknowledging that some women have very limited access to sanitary items, this volunteer led organisation collects donations, produces female care packages and delivers them to various projects and shelters across Belfast, preventing, not only the emotional impact of lacking these products, but also the danger to women's physical health.
Please, check them out on their Facebook page @thehomelessperiodbelfast
As part of this Crowdfunding initiative and as our way to announce to the world that
we exist, we are launching the #ForMeForHer campaign, in which we want to
explore what moves us to fight for feminism. There are a lot of ways that feminism directly makes our lives better, each one of us, but there are also big
battles that are worth fighting for, in the name of those that can’t.
Under the idea “We all benefit from feminism, but even if we didn’t, wouldn’t it still be worthy to fight for her” we want to remind everybody that there is something selfish in being a feminist, and hell yes, let’s fight for that too, but there are also massive battles out there that can’t be denied, real problems that can’t be ignored while waiting on us agreeing or disagreeing whether feminism is just a bunch of crazy women or actually an essential movement defending human rights.
We can't forget that these realities, supported with real data, hold real faces behind the numbers, and we owe it to every woman out there that we do our part. We need to speak up, to raise awareness, to make the decision-makers know that we are on the good side and we want a change. A real change.
So please,
share your own #ForMeForHer video clip and let us know why feminism is important for you in your daily
life but also which battle you want to raise awareness of. Let everybody
know that we need to fight for us, yes, but also for her, whoever and wherever she may be.
We understand that we keep repeating the word “us”, so please get to know us a little bit more!
My name is Virginia, and I am from Madrid but have been living in Belfast for the last 5 years. During my maternity leave(s) I wrote and published a book, Mika & Lolo, about gender stereotypes in childhood, reminding kids (and adults too) that gender should never be a limitation and welcoming everyone to use their superpowers to spread the message and live their best life without trying to fit in the narrow box.
I love going to schools and practicing critical thinking with kids and I wish adults were as easy to deal with. I also love arguments and debates of every sort, but somehow they always come back to the same topic.
Chris has been working in digital for over 15 years and specifically in ecommerce the last 5. He loves the power of the internet to get people together, to educate, and co-create. As regards feminism, he is very focused on the importance of making men understand that it is not a battle of the sexes, that we're all on the same side! He's not shy but is definitely quieter than me and has been really keen to ensure that our products are great conversation starters, as it's a great way to raise natural awareness of the topic. He especially likes wearing his feminist gear to the pub - what better way to get a few looks, ruffle few feathers and start a few interesting conversations!
I would love to tell you that a business is doable just with caffeine, passion and adrenaline but sadly there are a lot of other things to add to the equation to make it viable. This crowdfunding campaign will help push us further on our mission of spreading knowledge, understanding and acceptance of the necessity of feminism to as many people as possible.
Money raised will go into the behind the scenes fun stuff of servers, ecommerce platform, outsourcing of the things that we are not capable of doing but other very talented people are, marketing budget, samples etc.
We are investing our time and money into this project because we believe we can make a success of it, and in doing so create a sustainable business that does good. That said, cash and funding really is the difference between an ok start and a great start. We understand that no amount of money will remove the "give me another espresso or I will die in this computer" feeling of being an entrepreneur (and with 2 kids under three we are well aware of the limits of the human body to function without enough sleep) but because we genuinely believe in the importance and impact that it will have we want to give this project the chance it truly deserves by ticking as many boxes as we can before launch.
We are determined to make this work, but your donations and purchases will make it all better!
With this idea in mind we have created our range of products and rewards for this campaign. We truly believe that we can wear our activism, we can start conversations, we can change the perception of things by the way we act as ambassadors of Feminism. So, we have launched our first 2 collections just for this occasion - based on our #ForMeForHer hashtag and spreading the F word. These products are showcased below, and you can of course get them as part of the various different reward bundles. Perfect for you or the perfect gift for your feminist friends.
PIN BADGE
Our feminism is a badge of honour so what better than wearing a pin badge to show it! No more hiding it or feeling like it has to be immediately followed by some justification or long explanation. With the same pride that we tell the world that we support other very important fights, we want you to wear this F stylish pin and enjoy it. P.s. we find it also gives you strength when you are hesitating about calling out another casual misogynist conversation or joke!
POSTCARDS & STICKERS
We
have also created postcards with some of the slogans we will have on our products and our
website - this is a nice sneak peak of what is about to happen after launch. They are perfect for
decorating, or sending to that friend that won’t stop smiling after receiving
it. Or even better, what about sending it to that friend you always argue with?
An invitation to join the cause! We've also created some cool stickers, cos let's face it, who doesn't love stickers!?
T-SHIRTS
Soft touch, light wear and 100% Organic cotton stylish t-shirts that pack a punch! Choose from our #ForMeForHer range or just a beautiful big unapologetic F. We are here to celebrate our uniqueness and want to
embrace this when choosing your wearable activism. Are you a shouter? A whisperer? Do you want
something more discreet? Something completely different? All T-shirts will be
offered in black and white and different styles.
Don’t worry, if you chose
this reward, we will make sure we get it all right for you: we'll email you individually to ask which model, style,
colour and size you want - rest assured, whichever you choose they are all bloody gorgeous!
HOODIE
For the hoodie we're offering a 100% combed organic cotton unisex model in black. As with the t-shirts, you will be able to choose between the 5 models to show your style, but we wanted to explore the idea of “can’t we all not just love the same thing for once?" No gender, no colours, just our different way to share the message.
OTHER
PRODUCTS
We
have also created a mug and a tote bag, as they were very popular items in our
market research. We are all about listening what do you want from us, so
please, if you want us to add something in the future to the The Feminist Shop website, just speak to us! We will love
to explore it and try our best to cater for it!
When we launch The Feminist Shop website we'll also be selling a curated range of the best feminist books and feminist kids books out there. When you get up to the higher value reward bundles in this crowdfunder campaign you'll see there's a couple of these fab books included as a taster to get you going and fuel your feminism!
THE CHERRY ON CAKE?
Whilst Chris and I both LOVE our food and a good debate, unfortunately it'll be a little difficult to offer this on the website once it's launched. That said, there's nothing stopping us giving away an amazing foodie prize as part of this campaign. So here, it is… Join us for feminist debate over a tasting menu upstairs at Balloo house, in Killinchy Co. Down!
Danni Barry is the head chef of the award-winning restaurant Balloo and is the only Irish female with a Michelin star, awarded during her stay at EIPIC. We love the food and the environment at Balloo house and we deeply believe in the importance of celebrating women’s success in a world where we are educated to be quiet about it. She is not a better chef for being a female but in a male dominated field is very inspiring to have such an amazing award and we want to shout about it!
We believe that big things happen at a dinner table. A conversation has the power to make a change in somebody’s mind and that might have a domino effect actioning a lot of other changes.
So if you want to challenge our feminism because you keep thinking is something outrageous, if you want to learn other points of views and let us know yours, or if you just want to spend some time with people that can also speak about Feminism for hours because your friends and family can’t stand it anymore, let’s get together for a tasty meal at Balloo House!
This is the feminism we believe in. And if you do too, please pledge today, reserve
your product bundle, share with your feminist friends who you think will love the idea, share on social media, contact us to see how we can
collaborate and let’s start making this happen, all together!
You can also contact us in our email [email protected] or on Social Media and ask us any questions, we are more than happy to answer and want to hear more about you too!
Don't forget to spread the F word :)