From as early as fifth grade, Lovett senior Daniel Kauffman and Westminster senior William Wright knew they wanted to start a business together. Before even graduating high school, the two have made their vision a reality with a brand that gives back, Impact Threads.
Kauffman and Wright began imagining the business the summer before their junior year, inspired by an experience Kauffman had in his early school days.
“One moment that really inspired me that made know I wanted to do something like philanthropy was in sixth grade at Lovett,” Kauffman told Rough Draft. “We had an opportunity to go to a homeless shelter and feed the people there. It was an amazing experience, meeting everyone there and hearing their stories. After that experience, I knew I wanted to do something that had a bigger impact.”
Thus, came Impact Threads, a brand blending the teens’ passions for philanthropy, fashion, and business. Impact Threads is an apparel brand directly benefiting charities in Atlanta. Since officially launching in November 2024, the brand has already partnered with three organizations: Atlanta Humane Society, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, and I Will Survive, Inc.
For each charity, Kauffman and Wright design a t-shirt using the organization’s branding. Fifty-one percent of profits benefit the partner charity, and the interactive QR code on the front of the shirt encourages the community to further support the organizations.
“We want our clothing to be interactive,” Kauffman said. “When you go up to and see someone wearing one of our shirts, we don’t want you to just be like, ‘Oh, that’s a cool shirt.’ We want you to actually be able to interact with it, and that’s where we came up with the idea for QR codes. The QR codes give us the ability to connect the shirts with the donation pages of the partner charity.”
“$30 is obviously a lot for a shirt, but there are a lot of people, especially at my school, who will see the shirt and be like, ‘Oh, that’s super interesting. I don’t necessarily want a shirt right now, or I would love to support but don’t want to spend $30 right now,’ and they’ll do smaller donations [through the QR code],” Wright added. “That just helps raise money even more.”
The entire process – design and production, advertising, and selling the shirts – is done in-house by Kauffman and Wright at no cost to the participating charities. The pair have sold their shirts at the Vinings Farmers Market, at charity events, and through their website, impactthreads.org.
The young entrepreneurs have learned a lot from starting Impact Threads, and as they look toward college and adulthood, they hope to expand and grow their brand.
“It’s just been a learning process,” Kauffman said. “Every challenge that we’ve had has helped us grow as a business and as a brand in moving towards a bigger goal. We think the foundation we’re building with all these challenges is going to help us.”
The pair plans to expand their brand to offer apparel options beyond t-shirts, further develop the interactivity of their clothes, and, of course, partner with more charities in Atlanta and beyond.
“We love all the charities because they want to work with us,” Wright said, “so any charities that reach out to us, we want to work with you.”
To learn more and purchase a t-shirt, visit impactthreads.org.
