Falcons trio help good causes via clothes label
Sam Egerton, Nick Civetta and Dominic Waldouck (pictured) are selling their ‘I AM LEFT’ sweatshirts in the Kingston Park club shop, with all profits from sales at the Falcons’ home ground going towards ‘Lift the Weight’, the RPA’s new mental health initiative.
The trio are also in the process of expanding their range, with sales from their website [**www.iamleft.co.uk**][1] helping a whole range of charities.
Explaining the desire to help fellow professional rugby players, American international lock-forward Civetta said: “One of the causes we were particularly keen to support was the RPA’s mental health campaign, and any profits from any of our stock sold at the Kingston Park club shop will go straight to them.
“I think that’s important, and it’s a great angle for rugby fans regardless of what their political position might be. We have a sign near our merchandise in the club shop explaining a little about what we’re doing, and hopefully people will get on board.”
The I AM LEFT label was conceived by Falcons scrum-half Sam Egerton, the England Sevens international who is an Oxford University law graduate.
He said: “The beginnings of it were politically-motivated, but we don’t want people thinking ‘what are the Falcons doing supporting a left-wing initiative?’ or anything like that. From the club’s side of things they’ve agreed to sell our items in the shop at Kingston Park, and any profits which arise from that will go straight to the RPA’s mental health initiative.
“The basis of the label is that the three of us are like-minded, we saw what was going on in the political world with various things and we felt a bit powerless. We were thinking about things we could do, and with the way professional rugby works you have a lot of time where you have to let your body rest. The three of us aren’t happy getting back from training, sitting on the sofa and doing nothing, and it’s great to find something that we’re excited about doing.
“We launched with one product, which is our ‘I AM LEFT’ sweatshirt, and we are in the process of getting T-shirts which have various designs relating to equality and global warming. They will be coming in very soon, and people coming to Kingston Park for our game against Gloucester on Friday night will be able to buy our products direct from the club shop.”
Waldouck, a Premiership and European Cup winner who plays centre for the Falcons, said: “It’s about us doing something away from rugby, learning about setting up a business but also trying to make a positive contribution on the back of that to a number of good causes. It has been a really interesting process bringing a product to market and we believe it can do some good.”
Elaborating on the motives behind their joint venture, Civetta added: “It felt like the things that we care about were under attack, and Sam had the original idea to create a clothing brand. The initial concept was to unite around the causes we believe in, but it has evolved into something that anyone can get behind.
“When you buy clothing from us you get to pick from five or six charities which run the whole gamut of compassionate, progressive causes. You know that when you buy any of our products you can support a number of causes you feel passionate about, be it mental health, helping refugees, animal welfare and so forth.
“We donate 20% of our website sales profits to those causes, and you’re buying clothing which is at least assembled in Great Britain. It’s difficult to get clothing which is fully made in Great Britain, but we’re supporting local businesses and our clothing is as close to carbon-neutral as is possible. It’s a good brand to get behind if you want to buy clothes which can help you make a little bit of a difference in the world, and from our own point of view it’s a great experience starting a business in a field that none of us know too much about. We’re learning on the fly, and it’s an exciting challenge.
“People wanting to find out more about what we’re doing can either visit our website on [**www.iamleft.co.uk**][2] or check out our Instagram on @iamleft_ , and hopefully it can prove to be a positive force.”
[1]: http://www.iamleft.co.uk
[2]: http://www.iamleft.co.uk
