We came from France, the UK, from Uganda, Kenya, Hong Kong, South Africa and Taiwan. We are children of 20th century globalization, we rode its wave and saw its power to develop communities spanning across boundaries of all kinds while increasing the distance between individuals sharing the same homeland. We came from places where humility wasn’t necessary but was required, where traditions were strong but times are changing, where craft survives but uniformity is norm.

We saw countries, landscapes, their beauty and their scars. We saw their people. We learned what makes us the same. We learned differences and felt inequality. We learned to observe, listen and interpret. We learned to respect, contemplate and, most of all, to appreciate.

We came from around the globe and we came to where we are, here, in San Francisco. We are at an epicenter of thought leadership, innovation, creative expression and design. We are in a place where opportunities abound and curious ears are eager to hear crazy ideas. Here we have applied the learning from our life lessons. Here we have created, designed, crafted, built and advocated.

Here we begin our journey back out there, to everywhere. We’re headed far, as far as we can to see more, learn more. We’re headed as far as we can in the desperate hope to offer to others the ability to see and learn as we did through the places we’ve been. It is our mission as human beings and we live it through Tailored every day as we strive to achieve our corporate mission:

“Tailored has an obligation to be a productive member of the global community by providing our customers with the highest quality sustainable products through a uniquely superior customer experience and by ensuring that our business activities contribute directly to increasing access to opportunity for individuals around the world.”

Tailored is in business not only for the love of the craft but also with a fundamental belief as a global citizen that we have a duty so support access to opportunity for all.

With our mission in mind, we have established strategic partnerships with two key organizations – YIKE and Mama Hope. These partnerships enable our customers to have a direct impact increasing access to opportunity for individuals in challenged communities. Tailored has partnered with these organizations to create unique funding mechanisms that ensure 100% of our customers’ purchase contributions go directly to support projects on the ground.

Youth Initiatives Kenya (YIKE)

Tailored San Francisco and YIKE share the common belief that encouraging and enabling entrepreneurship is a powerful way to generate virtuous cycles of development in local communities. Tailored has partnered with YIKE to create a unique microfinance offering for young entrepreneurs in the slums around Nairobi with an aim to fulfill two objectives:

- Provide access to capital
- Encourages healthy financial management

Your purchase of a Tailored garment generates a low interest microloan, of which Tailored pays half the interest. The remaining half is divided into interest payments and savings account contributions, accessible once the loan is paid off.

This unique loan structure breaks from the common and controversial micro-finance model, providing true value and a reasonable introduction to obtaining entrepreneurial capital for local borrowers.

Mama Hope

The relationship between Mama Hope and Tailored was born from a shared conviction that local communities must own their development projects.

Mama hopes works in close partnership with local African organizations to provide project planning support and connect them with the resources required to transform their communities. All projects are managed for and by the communities so as to ensure the sustainability of the project. Mama hope has successfully enabled construction and operation of schools, clinics, children centers, clean water systems and food security projects