This is: Promote Your Local
The pandemic has shaken us all to our core. Regardless of who we are or who we were, what we do or what we did, chances are Covid-19 has taken its tremendous toll on everything and everyone, from personal to professional. More than a year into its run, both the virus itself and the long shadow of precautions and consequences it has cast linger on, hover just in the small of our backs, not just like an unwanted guest that has overstayed their visit, but like a guest who shouldn’t have even dropped by in the first place. And while the sacrifices we’ve made to protect each other from the risks of falling fatally ill certainly warrant it, the economic sacrifices and their residue have been both grave and ghastly, particularly for smaller, community-rooted businesses like restaurants and beauty salons.
„Pizzerias, hairdressers, delis, skate shops“ are not only among those most affected, but also among the establishments Copenhagen’s Promote Your Local-trio aims to lend their helping hands to in times of crisis. In the tailwind of Denmark’s first national lockdown last spring, designer Hans Augustenborg, alongside boutique owners Rasmus Boesen and Marc Berliner, sought to (re-)imagine the junction of apparel, advertising and altruism: „My two friends who run Pleasant in Nørrebro told me their sales went from 100 to 0 in no time––just as was the case for most other local vendors. So then I thought, ‚what if we made something to help those spots, the ones the pandemic was hurting the most?‘“, Augustenborg recalls. „And so, we came up with the idea of creating a collection of wearable promo, to raise awareness for the shops that don’t have the same kind of money big chains have, for those unable to splurge on ads or online performances. Be their billboard when they need it most.“
Not only are the screen-printed t-shirts highly fashionable, they are fully devoted to their raison d’être: Aside from manufacturing costs, nearly all proceeds go straight to the stores they very graphically, very thoroughly, very visibly endorse. Herby stressing the importance of differentiating between them and regularly branded merchandise, Augustenborg claims name, product or service type, as well as a list of according prices are mandatory toward creating a beneficial design for the participants––most of whom, he says, are surprised at the truly charitable nature of the collaborations.
Initially starting off with a handful of individual neighborhood favorites, Promote Your Local now branch out either by directly contacting retailers they’re personally interested in and then hook these up with a well-fitting creative, or they have the two parties suggested, in combo or separately, by the cause’s growing number of international, intergenerational, interdisciplinary proponents. „Anyone can submit designs or request to take part“, he emphasizes. This liberal but attentive approach amounts to what the social entrepreneur deems „open-source co-creation“, and it flows through every vein of this endeavor––so much so the titular Local has outgrown its locality, its place of birth, and since become the overarching representative of contributions from and for businesses in cities across Denmark, like Aarhus, as well as places far away from the group’s home country, places in Spain or even Brazil.
All omens aside, the collective’s collections should not be associated with mere nostalgic „support and sadness“, Hans Augustenborg insists, but rather with a genuine, artistic and optimistic pursuit of financially uplifting those overthrown by corona’s chaos, „the cafés, the kebabs, the kiosks“ we all love. Currently purchasable online and at Pleasant on Stefansgade 12, the shirts are soon to be carried by and come with a gift certificate from the billboard of your choosing’s template. „What’s next? Maybe pubs or sex shops“, he enthusiastically proposes. So, with an ever-expanding, more and more versatile, no-holds-barred catalog of partners and patterns, there’s really no excuse to not somehow chip in and promote your local––be it as the Don Draper or the donator draped.
