I&I Outfitters aims to inspire conversation around the stigma of mental health and mental illness through fashion. We are getting ready to launch our 'Common Threads Collection' on Kickstarter, which features the world's first "social shirt."
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Available only through our Kickstarter Campaign, we are designing shirts in batches that feature a unique hashtag. Once distributed to our backers around the world, strangers can connect in mental health support groups via the unique hashtag, enabling them to collaborate, support, and encourage one another along their journey toward recovery and healing. The shirts are a physical affirmation and a sign of community empowerment that we can fight to stand up to the stigma that surrounds mental illness.
"In the darkness, I am. In the light, I am."It's easy to feel worthy and full of love when we're feeling great. When we've accomplished something. When others support us or validate us. But it's much harder to feel worthy of anything when we're depressed. When we're anxious. When we've relapsed. When we're insecure. Bitter. Resentful. Angry. Scared. The list goes on and on. Regardless of what you are going through or how you feel, in the darkness, you are, and in the light, you are.
Not you and I, but rather, I and I.
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Because even though our pain can make us feel so alone and isolated, we are all in this together, and there are so many more of us out there searching for connection. I and I comes from Rastafarian culture where they replace "you and I" with "I and I " to represent equality. It also represents the physical and spiritual nature of humanity, as well as the belief that we are interconnected and have the power to achieve great things when we come together.
The third and final part of our manifesto: the moon remains he same in both the darkness and the light, yet we see it differently, or do not regard its presence at all. The phases of the moon are also temporary and always shifting, which is a reminder and a reassurance that we too are always shifting into new experiences, and that every emotion we feel is temporary and impermanent. No matter how painful it may be at the time, we all shift into a new phase, and yet our worthiness and true nature remains constant. That is why we started this brand, and we are so incredibly excited and grateful for the opportunity to grow the #IANDIFAMILY.Â
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