Hey Guys,

As many of you may have already noticed, the Christchurch t-shirts are no longer being sold. Unfortunately we’ve had to take down the tees, and we apologise to any of you in Christchurch that missed out on a t-shirt.

The Red Cross were in touch with us yesterday; and despite being extremely appreciative and thankful for what we’ve been able to raise for them and the effort we put in – they asked that the t-shirt be pulled from the site.

From the outset (despite what you may think of us), it was never our intention to upset anyone or capitalise on anyone’s misfortune. The t-shirt, as with all other charitable t-shirts we’ve run over the years – for both emergency appeals and standard charity appeals – was created to help people in need.

Obviously, we understand the position the Red Cross are in, and we’re certainly not wanting to put any further stress on what is already a terrible and traumatic natural disaster – so the t-shirts go.

At this point - and in no way is this a tooting of our own horn – we’d like to finish with what we’ve been able to raise for the Red Cross Canterbury Earthquake Appeal - with your help of course.

We’re stoked to announce that we’ve ended up raising $9,394.13 from the sales alone, and have also decided to top that up with a further $2,000 to make a grand total of $11,394.13 that will be sent to the Red Cross early next week.

We’d like to thank you for all the support, criticism and feedback we’ve received through the many blogs, emails, facebook posts and tweets. We’ve learnt a lot from the whole ordeal.

Cheers, the team at Mr Vintage.

Just to wrap things up from our end…

Wednesday morning it was a bit of a shock awaking to a raft of txt messages from mates informing me of Mr Vintage getting blasted in the National Newspaper via the sideswipe column. We thought, and still think, that the Christchurch t-shirt was a nice thing to do. It wasn’t really that cool of Ana to do her piece. Whilst what followed was, admittedly at times, rather emotionally charged – at the end of the day, we've raised in excess of $3,500 (at last count) from the t-shirt sales alone. And we’re really stoked about that. I think some dudes in Christchurch will as well.

Whether or not you view any sort of profit being made from a charitable t-shirt as being disingenuous or not, it isn’t for us to decide – and you’re free to your opinions.

What we will admit to and apologise for is a few errors of judgement and reacting immaturely. While we stand by a lot of what we said over the course of the day – there were statements that we now see were made in an over-emotive state. The whole issue really stems from a number of miscommunications – from both parties – and whether we should have sent out an amendment to the press release, whether she should have asked us before print; it doesn’t really matter now.

What isn’t cool is the people questioning our level of commitment to the cause – we’re not people who celebrate a tragedy, and we don’t want to be seen that way. So we’ll give some more money. Straight from our pocket. Straight to the Red Cross Canterbury Earthquake Appeal. No profits. No margins.

WE’RE DONATING AN EXTRA $1,000 OUT OF OUR OWN POCKET TO THE RED CROSS CANTERBURY EARTHQUAKE APPEAL. We’re not asking anyone to match our contribution. We just want to show that it's about the support - that's the main thing.

Cool.

We just wanted to touch on a few things that have come to light over the last day or two since we released our Christchurch Earthquake Relief Tee, and the resulting Sideswipe piece Ana Samways was nice enough to write for us. Her article’s here, with a few inconsistencies.

• The t-shirt is $19.95, not $29.95.
• It costs more than $6 to make our t-shirts.
• $6 doesn’t even cover the cost of the t-shirt itself.
• Production costs also include re-labelling, printing, ink, design costs and man-hours.

The reason we’re even addressing this issue is basically because it really pisses us off. BUT, it gives us a chance to be a bit more open about what we do, and why we’re doing it. So this is us opening up; about the Christchurch Appeal t-shirt, and our charity work in general.

1. Why t-shirts? People like wearing t-shirts that support charities because it shows they’re supporting something - much like you would wear a pin for breast cancer, a sticker for Greenpeace, or a daffodil for daffodil day. It’s not like people need the recognition, but it raises awareness to others, and it encourages other people to support as well. It helps in monetary terms, raises awareness for their cause, their appeal week(s), and their brands.

2. Some people – for one reason or another – might not feel compelled to give a straight donation. If those people feel more comfortable giving by way of buying a charitable t-shirt, isn’t it better that they give that way than not at all? As far as we’re concerned, if one person buys a t-shirt that otherwise wouldn’t have donated, it’s all worth it.

3. Yes, we send out press releases for these t-shirts. Contrived? I guess you could look at it that way. I’d go more along the lines of “the more people see it, the more money we can raise for the charity”. Simple, and thanks for the press there Ana.

4. We’re a small company. Yeah, we’ve got a sparkly website that apparently makes us seem like we’re swimming in money – we’re not. We try to help as much as we can with these t-shirts. Not because we have to, not to make money, but to help. We’re not millionaires, we’re not able to make big lump donations, so we do what we can.

5. While it would be reckless to go in to specifics, I will say this. With a 25% donation on a $19.95 t-shirt, we’re barely making any profit on these t-shirts. We’re not losing money, but we’re certainly not making a killing. You won’t find us at the dogs this weekend, that’s for sure. In fact, we’ll probably be printing these Christchurch Quake t-shirts.

So yeah, we’re extremely disappointed that the views of one person have become so publicly aired – but we do know, from all the kind words we received yesterday, that they are just the opinions of one journalist blogger. But it is a bit of a kick in the guts when you raise a whole bunch of money for a worthy cause, and someone comes along so carelessly and gives you shit for it.

And really, what message does it give out to other small businesses. It sure as heck-fire doesn’t encourage people to get out there and give a helping hand. But it won’t deter us. 50 cent got shot 9 times and he’s still going. He’s a real talk gangsta, and so are we.

ANA. It’s really easy to sit back in your ergonomically designed computer chair and surf the Internet, picking out little things and printing them. It’s harder to actually do something about it. Luckily, we’re giving you the chance to.

THIS brand new ‘Ana Samways donation t-shirt’ is available for $1000 online at www.mrvintage.co.nz - just for you. There’s but one t-shirt being printed that reads “I Love Sideswipe” in a lovely little pink heart

100% of the $1,000 will go straight to the Red Cross Canterbury Earthquake Appeal, and if you’re cool enough to make this donation – WE’LL MATCH YOUR $1000. Everybody wins, especially Christchurch ☺

This aggression will not stand, man.

One of our Designers, Josh Paki, is helping out with this exhibition that looks pretty cool. You should pop in and check it out.

This photographic exhibition tells the story of life in Wesley / Mt Roskill through the lens of young people in the area. These photographs provide an interesting insight into what it means to be a member of the Wesley and Mt Roskill community. The group’s aim was to capture their own community as seen through their own eyes

The photos chosen by the group for the show are displayed in a manner that pays homage to the Polynesian family lounge room. The pictures are displayed in frames reminiscent of the aforementioned, borrowing from the way that families honour both the dead and living by placing them in a highly visible site for both the inhabitants and visitors to see.