In an attempt to promote mental health awareness, a new fashion brand is trying to spark conversation through clothing sold via Wear Your Label.
Slogans are displayed across a variety of t-shirts and tank tops expressing "Self-care isn't selfish," "Stressed but well dressed" and "Sad but rad." Founders of Wear Your Label expressed to Today.com that their objective is to lower negative stigmas surrounding issues including anxiety, depression and eating disorders.
"Mental illness is invisible - you can't see it," co-founder Kyle MacNevin said, reports Today.com. "When you break your arm, you get a cast. It's a symbol to the world that something happened and you're getting better. We try to do that with our clothing. So it says, I'm going through something, but I'm working on it."
We're big believers in #selfcare (we even made a shirt for it). https://t.co/onbEAxttN2 pic.twitter.com/iWSvnrfyfq
— Wear Your Label (@wearyourlabel) April 26, 2015
Co-founders, 21-year-old Kayley Reed and 22-year-old MacNevin, launched their label eight months ago. The idea for Wear Your Label sparked last year, when both students attended and met one another at Canada's University of New Brunswick, notes People StyleNews. The two quickly bonded over their personal battles with mental illness--Reed is currently recovering from anorexia nervosa and MacNevin has struggled with ADHD and anxiety.
"It was something that I was really shy about, and really reluctant to tell anyone about for a really long time," Reed said. "It wasn't until I met Kyle, who has been really open about his mental health experiences, that I became open about my experiences." The duo believe conversations and building accurate knowledge of mental illness is imperative in helping those who suffer and those who want to better educate themselves on the matter. By launching their brand, Reed and MacNevin aim to prevent tragedies and deaths comparable to the story of 19-year-old track star, Madison Holleran, who committed suicide last year.
All set up at the @Futurpreneur #AEcanada conference pic.twitter.com/SW3Pvhywx5 — Wear Your Label (@wearyourlabel) May 13, 2015
"Hearing those stories can be really difficult for us, because either we've been in a similar situation or we've had close friends or family members who have been in those situations," Reed said. "It really makes the job a little more difficult because everything is quite personal." The models used to promote the clothing come with personal mental health stories of their own.
Next week the brand will launch a Kickstarter campaign to collect money to further enlarge their company, which as of now, sells t-shirts, bracelets, tank taps and baseball t-shirts." A lot of times we don't recognize symptoms or know anything is wrong, and all it can take is that one conversation to get someone to open up," Reed explained. "We've heard really amazing stories from dads who used our T-shirts to start conversations with their daughters about self-esteem."
