“In a murderous time, the HeART breaks, and breaks, and lives by breaking. It is necessary to go through dark and deeper dark, and not to turn” -Stanley Kunitz “The Testing Tree”
There’s no argument when it comes to this: we are living through a murderous time, though perhaps no more or less murderous than any other period in human history. The darkness now, is made darker still, however, because despite our deeper knowing of the danger than ever—as compared to the past—we continue to accept a standard of living where the suffering and death of young people by drug and alcohol overdose, gun violence, and emotional neglect has become the expectation rather than the exception.
Regardless of access and affluence, long thought to be the determining factors of a fulfilling life, 130 Americans are dying of opioid overdose every day. Every single day, 310 people in the United States are shot; 100 of them die, and 21 of them are children ages 1-17. Every 26 seconds, another kid drops out of high school. A lot of people like to tell me, “it’s all just…f*cked.” But here’s the thing—these are all statics we can change, and every day, for the past three and half years, Be As You Wear has committed to reversing them, forever.
Our approach has been to source and manufacture a basic outfit (starting with the Hooded Sweatshirt) that is ethically and sustainably made in the US (which means your dollar stays stronger by 40%). Our goals are to provide you basics that remain affordable, one a kind (choose the color your HeART is) and—they are so soft you forget you are wearing clothes at all!
Our mission is to smash the status quo by cultivating a market and building a brand that represents the majesty of the HUMAN HEART rather than profiting from the loss of individual and collective esteem upon which the fashion and pharmaceutical industries have built their empires. Our clothes manifest our mission, and our mission manifests undeniable interruption to the environmental and economic cycles of overdose, violence, and neglect which produce the rising numbers of senseless deaths and wasted lives.
We have learned how to interrupt these cycles systematically and universally, because we are committed to admitting and interrupting these cycles in our own lives, our own families, and our own neighborhoods. Our brand and our daily practice of following our HeARTs rather than the trends, provide the crucial connection to life, love, and the shameless pursuit of adventure. We have walked through fire, survived the darkest darkness, and turned towards the sustaining light that shines for us through all adversity.
Double the impact of your giving—give a gift and give a chance. Shop with solutions in mind. The HeART breaks, and heals by breaking. Wear yours out. Dare to care. The change is in your pocket. ‘Tis the season to un-f*ck it.