Occupy Chicago clothing

[Bearhair]

PROPOSAL:
Does the General Assembly of Occupy Chicago endorse the line of clothing, to be distributed and sold by Shawn Kellner, that bears the name "Occupy Chicago"?

Detailed information presented at GA.

[mattjohnson]

I would like, as you are gathering the info, any information regarding the manufacture of the actual t-shirts - aside from printing. Are we to be assured that these shirts are union made? If not, are they at least not made in sweatshops across the globe?

Thanks!

[Bearhair]

I would like, as you are gathering the info, any information regarding the manufacture of the actual t-shirts - aside from printing. Are we to be assured that these shirts are union made? If not, are they at least not made in sweatshops across the globe? Thanks!

Hey, Matt! I spoke with Shawn on the phone and hammered out a lot of details. He and I are both checking into it, but it seems that American Apparel fits the bill. The link will take you to their company profile page. It seems that their non-U.S. employees are only store employees, and all manufacturing, etc. is done in Los Angeles. Since they're a big producer, the wholesale cost of the shirts will be great. If we wished, we could offer a super-organic t-shirt - organic cotton and ink. But it would necessarily have to cost more.

[vimUvim]

I think this will be stacked (maybe voted on) on Friday Dec 9.

[shawnkellner]

I would be happy to answer your questions about this proposal.
Feel free to contact me:

Shawn Kellner
Occupy Chicago Clothing Proposal Hotline: (773) 245-3159
Email: occupychicagclothing@gmail.com

[ciwp]

Is there any reason why we can't undertake to make our own 'official' Occupy Chicago clothing/swag where we get 100% of the revenue?

It seems to me that we can easily obtain the talent/equipment for T-Shirts, posters, etc. Maybe Arts & Rec could do this?

If we decide to go with an outside vendor, then we will have to have a well-designed contract vetted by our Legal team that enables us to terminate our relationship with anyone who produces our swag for us at any time if they violate the terms of our contract. We'd also need to have an accountant verify that we are actually getting our percentage and are not being screwed by some sharpie (this would be VERY hard to verify!). Occupy Chicago getting 25% of the net AFTER expenses could easily end up being Occupy Chicago getting 0%. Record companies are notorious for setting up arrangements like this.

ANYTHING WE AGREE TO HAS TO BE APPROVED BY OUR LAWYERS FIRST - AND ONLY AFTER THAT IS DONE CAN A PROPOSAL SUCH AS THIS BE PRESENTED TO THE GA!

Mark Donaghey
Housing, Donations Committees
Committee for an Independent Workers Party

[Bearhair]

Thank you for your opinion, Mark.

I believe the proposal is clearly stated:

Does the General Assembly of Occupy Chicago endorse the line of clothing, to be distributed and sold by Shawn Kellner, that bears the name "Occupy Chicago"?

Mr. Kellner approached us with his idea of selling clothing with our name on it in order to raise funds, a portion of which he would like to donate to us, and a portion to a charity purely of his choice (he has chosen the Hines VA Hospital).

There is already clothing available on Amazon which uses our name.

This proposal merely states that his clothing is endorsed by the General Assembly of Occupy Chicago as being "approved," and we're doing that specifically because he has offered to donate part of the proceeds to us, as opposed to only profiting from it, as others are.

We do not contract with other donors (soup man has offered to set up donation barrels along a Metra line) and it is my opinion that it would be inappropriate to do so with Mr. Kellner.

As to your question regarding whether we could make our own clothing line, the answer is obviously yes. But our focus should be on political activism, not direct fundraising. People, including yourself, have lots of great ideas, but they distract us from our mission of political activism.

Thanks again for your input.

[UndyingFlame]

Mark, you assaulted Brian for telling you that you can't stay at Grace place, in accordance with long-established rules. You then threw hot, scalding water onto people, and attempted to assault multiple individuals. You then threw brake fluid on people and said you were going to set them on fire. You're a dangerous, mentally unstable individual and for the safety of our members you will be arrested if you show up again. Honestly, I hope you get taken by the authorities into custody for a long time, that's what you need.

[shawnkellner]

Undyingflame please dont post off topic things in this thread again. This thread is ONLY for comments about the proposal that Lora and I have presented to the GA.

All off topic comments will be moved or deleted.

Thank You for everyone's comments and support so far.

Shawn Kellner

[myanswer]

Can we request our own message on t shirts like "No nonviolent protest permits No Chicago NATO G8"