What is our Story?

This morning I woke up feeling so refreshed!  Stepped outside and it just felt like it was going to be a good day.  Before I went running out of the house, I decided that I would spend some time personally thanking everyone who became a 'Friend' overnight on our Facebook page.  And then one of my old friends sent me a message, "So what's the story with THE GREY BUTTON?"  I guess I have been so wrapped up in pulling the business and design plans together that I have not actually taken the time to fully explain to this platform exactly what the "story" of THE GREY BUTTON is.

 I have always known since design school that I would develop my own line....but finding exactly what I would do was not as easy of a decision.  For quite some time now I have been designing handbags but something has always been missing.  I did go to school with the motivation of having my own collection [clothes].  I knew I had an appreciation for buttons, so much so that I started collecting them over the years, knowing I would eventually use them in some way.  Then I started thinking of how much of an ambitious project starting a clothing line was, so it was only natural to start with something small and manageable like t-shirts and let it evolve as many other well known designers have done before me.  I knew that I wanted to incorporated all those buttons I had collected, and then the idea formed of literally putting "one" on each garment and it seemed genius!  My next thought was....."eventually I would run out of buttons and would need to get more somehow."  I know how fulfilling giving is but not always an easy pitch sell to even your friends and family.  But something could be said of everyone coming together from different walks of life in support of something larger than them alone to give something back that just about everyone of us have in common,  BUTTONS!!  It doesn't take much.  I thought of what I could give in return for asking people to donate their old buttons as to lead by example.  Expanding your giving power with something as small as a button is THE GREY BUTTON's motto.  I could have easily developed a well branded line that I'm confident would have been successful on its own merit and eventually had custom buttons made with my logo to represent the grey button.  But I was not willing to sacrifice all the good that could come out of this project just for my financial satisfaction!  And it truly is special knowing that your donated button blossomed into something larger than what you may have been able to do alone.  Do you know how many buttons are discarded yearly?  I admit, I don't either......but I know how many I have thrown away over the years, so simple math would tell me that if everyone is doing what I used to do, there are a lot of buttons going in the trash that are perfectly fine!   The truth of the matter is that just because it may not work on the original garment, does not mean that it is completely worthless.  Of course we want to encourage you to continue to donate your gently worn garments, but those items that you would otherwise throw away we ask that you donate any buttons from those garments them to THE GREY BUTTON.  Each donated button is featured on one of THE GREY BUTTON's garments and you can feel good knowing that 10% of the purchase price of your button's garment will be donated back into the community to support several causes from AIDS and Breast Cancer Awareness to the importance of Mental Health and everything in between.  I know that it is not always feasible to donate money but you can feel just as accomplished in donating one or more buttons that would have otherwise been forgotten.  Make sure to continue to follow us to see what we are up to so you can come out to be a part of something bigger than just yourself!