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After watching a documentary with my daughter called “Girl Rising”, I became truly aware and infuriated with the lack of educational opportunity for girls around the world. There are staggering statistics that all point to a lack of education.

Did you know that:
– There are currently 62 million girls out of school globally? That’s a lot of potential just simply lost due to their gender.
– 14 million girls under 18 will be married this year; 38 thousand today; 13 girls in the last 30 seconds.
– The #1 cause of death for girls 15-19 is childbirth.
– Girls with 8 years of education are 4 times less likely to be married as children.

Now although I felt overwhelmed and frustrated about the reality of this subject, I didn’t feel hopeless. I know I’m just one person but I’m a firm believer that one person CAN make a difference, just look at Malala Yousafzai and all that she has accomplished despite her hurdles that she has had to overcome.

So I sat down with my pencil, crayons, and sketch book, and began to brainstorm some leggings with a school supply theme that I could then sell and give half of proceeds to a non-profit that gives girls the opportunity to get an education.

This journey has taken me years to get to this point, but I refuse to give up. I truly believe that fashion has the power to change people’s lives and make a difference. If TOMS can do it with shoes then so can I.

I almost forgot to mention that the leggings are made in the USA utilizing recycled polyester material. That’s right, these leggings are made from recycled plastic bottles. It takes about 12 bottles to make one pair of leggings. I have recently launched them on Kickstarter and the campaign ends on Wednesday April 6th 2016.

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More info: kickstarter.com

Quick ideas for the Pencil and Composition Notebook Leggings

My rudimentary idea for the Crayon Leggings

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This is the entire collection that I designed.

Samples getting ready to be cut and sewn.

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