Page 40 May 2 014 T-shirt company inspired by art raises money and hope By Katie Mayer It hung on the refrigerator door at his parents’ house – a child’s drawing of a cartoon character. To many, it likely looked like a typical piece of children’s art, but to Phoenix resident Robert Thornton, it was the inspiration that changed his life. After an injury ended his professional baseball career, Thornton felt lost and depressed. But on a trip to visit his family in northern California, he saw the sketch hanging on his parents’ refrigerator. “It was a drawing from a little girl and it just mesmerized me,” Thornton said. “It was from a special needs child that rides on the bus my mom drives.” The following morning, Thornton woke up and realized the image would look interesting on a T-shirt, and others agreed. Today, that simple idea has turned into a thriving business that is changing the lives of special needs and seriously ill adults and children locally and across the country. In 2009, Thornton founded Paper Clouds Apparel, a company which takes the art created by special needs individuals and places them onto limited edition high- quality T-shirts – and in some cases hats and tote bags – which the public can buy. The T-shirts cost about $23 to $28 dollars and half of all net proceeds are given to organizations or individuals in need. The company also employs special needs individuals to help wrap and package T-shirts. Thornton, 36, also works full-time as a bartender at Postino on Central Avenue, and often clocks an average of 90 hours per week operating his home-based business and bartending. His startup received a boost when he was accepted into Phoenix business incubator SEED SPOT, which nurtures businesses that make a social impact. “I want to help as many people as I can,” Thornton said. “It’s a completely grassroots guerilla campaign, but I know the Founder of Paper Cloud Apparel, Robert Thornton created the business after being inspired by a child’s drawing. Your Home is where Our Heart is! The Valley Leader in Residential Real Estate Year After Year Karen Lafferty 602.628.3842 karen@thejoffegroup.com KarenLafferty.net Dallas Peagler 602.821.9494 dallas@thejoffegroup.com DallasPeagler.com REPRESENTED BUYER AND SELLER 3932 E. GLENROSA PENDING BEFORE IT HIT THE MARKET AND BROUGHT THE BUYER 4912 E. INDIANOLA SOLD-$525,000 3727 E. HIGHLAND PLACE NEW LISTING-$495,000 4449 E WELDON 5627 E. MONTEROSA SOLD-$525,000 $735,000 $425,000 money is helping change lives.” The way Paper Clouds Apparel’s unique business model works is that every two weeks, the company partners with new artists and new organizations who will benefit from the T-shirts sold. For two weeks, the company holds a campaign to sell as many T-shirts as possible using largely word-of-mouth and social media outreach. Once the campaign ends, the T-shirts are purchased and printed locally, then distributed to customers and the designated organization receives money from half of the net profits. Last year, Paper Clouds Apparel raised nearly $22,000, and this year had raised $6,197 by early April. The proceeds went to organizations and individuals in need locally and across the country. One participant, located near Boston, was Allyson Nyman and her son Logan Nyman, who is 18 and has several challenges, such as developmental delays and verbal apraxia, which means he has trouble communicating what he wants correctly and consistently. For their first campaign last summer, a picture of a horse Logan drew when he was 12 was printed on t-shirts that raised money for a therapeutic horseback riding ranch. “Our first campaign was extremely meaningful to us. We are an art-loving family, but my son Logan always resisted, often refusing to even hold a crayon,” Nyman said. “I tried for years, and he simply would not or could not tolerate it.” Continued on page 42 Paper Clouds Apparel is changing the lives of special needs and seriously ill individuals all over the country.

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