A pair of young entrepreneurs decided to do some good with their new clothing line.
Adam Kennedy and Kobe Seguin launched their own clothing line "Bay Apparel" last summer.
"We started up a clothing business early summer of 2020 with the goal of bringing our passions for the outdoors and fashion together," said the 19-year-old Seguin, who a former draft pick of the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds.
"Both of us are trying to be aware of the communal, social, and environmental issues."
Seguin says they want to differentiate themselves from other brands by giving back and contributing to causes they believe in.
"So with every collection of clothing we bring in we’ve decided to donate a portion of our profits to different local and charitable causes and institutes that benefit from it," Seguin said.
"This past donation was possible from the portion of funds we were able to contribute plus additional money contributed by our family members as well."
That led to a donation recently of more than 80 Bay Apparel hoodies to the Nipissing Mental Health Housing and Support Services for the homeless.
"People at the Nipissing Mental Health Housing and Support Services have reached out letting us know how thankful they are about this donation of nearly 90 hoodies and how grateful and ecstatic people have been to receive these new warm hoodies during these cold months," Seguin said.
Mary Davis, executive director of the organization was thrilled when Adam and Kobe approached them with the idea of the donation.
"These young entrepreneurs are remarkable," said Davis.
"Everything about their business shows a deep sense of community, not only because their clothing captures the spirit of where we live, but because they want to help people who live here, too. I’ve heard from staff that the hoodies are very popular with our clients. We would like to extend our thanks to Bay Apparel and wish them continued success.”
He adds that as they continue to grow as a business that will mean donations for causes they believe in will increase as well.
"With a community who supports us nonstop, we want to also support the community back."
