Bonafide Merch started because Tazz couldn’t find a flower crown for a festival one spring and decided to make one for herself. After posting pictures on her social media, her friends enquired where she found the flowered headband and excitedly shared that she had made them. She started making some for them until strangers asked about them too. The idea of selling them, at a small cost, sparked and this began the journey of an online store.
With the little bit of profit she received from the first couple of head crowns she sold, she decided to create more variations and the idea simply grew from there. She researched a few charities and with the extra money and left-over merchandise, she found that she could make others feel special too, and donate small amounts of money to these foundations as well.
There are many charities and foundations in need, and with a few of them hitting closer to home than others, we’ve dedicated 10% of all profits made from the ‘Rainbow Collection’ to be donated to charity. The current charities we aim to support are:
- Children and War : www.childrenandwar.org/
- Homelessness + Starvation + Local Community Projects
- Green Peace Africa : www.greenpeace.org/africa/en/
- Avaaz : https://secure.avaaz.org/page/en/
- Global Citizen : www.globalcitizen.org/en/donate/
- Preventable Diseases + HIV + AIDS : www.one.org.za/international/
- Smile Foundation : www.southafrica.operationsmile.o
- Save the reef : www.savethereef.org
- Hope Risen: www.hoperisen.org
- Arthritis Foundation South Africa : www.arthritis.org.za
- CANSA : www.cansa.org.za
- Anxiety+ Depression + Anti-Bullying + Suicide Prevention : www.sadag.org
Many of the past donations have been in cash or merchandise donations to local foundations and people in need.
There are many more charities that we wish we could support, but we have made every effort to donate to organisations that take holistic approaches instead of a more specific approach to try and limit any discrimination that may arise from doing so. For example, we are supporting the Children and War organisation instead of donating to a country-specific organisation.
The colours from the Rainbow collection were the inspiration to represent multiple different charities for each of colour, but donations are not limited to the colours only. A shared donation across multiple different charities will take preference.
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The Rainbow Collection
Once the Rainbow apparel launches, in 2022, the proceeds will be split in accordance with one of the 12 colours they represent:
- CHILDREN AND WAR : Bright Purple
- Homeless + Starvation + Local Community Projects : Bright Blue
- GREEN PEACE AFRICA : Bright Green
- AVAAZ : Bright Yellow
- GLOBAL CITIZEN : Bright Orange
- PREVENTABLE DISEASE + HIV + AIDS : Red
- SMILE FOUNDATION : Light Purple / Lilac
- SAVE THE REEF : Light Blue / Turquoise
- HOPE RISEN FOUNDATION: Light Green/ Lime
- ARTHRITIS FOUNDATION : Light Orange / Peach
- CANSA (CANCER ASSOC): Light Red/ Pink
- Anxiety+ Depression + Anti-Bullying + Suicide Prevention : Pink
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