TORONTO — A group of Vancouver designers have started a clothing line inspired by City Councillor Norm Kelly and the Toronto Raptors, which sports the tagline “We The Norm.”
The 74-year-old councillor is the face behind the new clothing line, with proceeds being donated to both the Covenant House and The Hospital for Sick Children.
Kelly said he was approached by numerous retailers about the possibility of creating a clothing line, but one in particular stood out.
READ MORE: Norm Kelly shows off ‘Hotline Bling’ dance moves ahead of Drake Night
“The growth of my Twitter following enticed a lot of people to give me a call … The first call came from people who had established businesses, seeing how they could – one way or another – take their business and use my name to promote it,” Kelly said.
“My response then and now, is the proceeds have to go to charity … I didn’t get calls back.”
Kelly said he was then approached by financial analyst Emerson Lai and grad student Tom Guo saying they wanted to get involved.
“I got calls from young people – young entrepreneurs – who said, ‘You know what, we see an opportunity here. We would like to get involved,’” he said.
The pair started the “We the Norm” clothing line that distributes t-shirts and sweaters featuring a play on the popular Toronto Raptors “We the North” slogan.
“Initially we thought it would be fun idea … We love our city we wanted to do something that was representative of Toronto,” Lai said.
“We thought someone like Norm Kelly was putting Toronto on the map.”
READ MORE: Norm Kelly a big winner in Twitter Battle of Toronto
Lai said the public response to the clothing line was “tremendous” and the pair recently broke $4,500 in sales after just two weeks.
“When we met him, he turned out to be one of the nicest guys ever,” said Lai.
“He’s a political figure that’s really in touch with the young culture,” added Guo.
The Ward 40 Councillor added that he was humbled by the proposition and accepted.
“I was surprised. It wasn’t something I anticipated. I felt honoured … in situations like this – and it’s funny the feelings that go through you – one part of you is happy, honoured and another part of me was humbled,” Kelly said.
“They wholeheartedly committed, outside of the cost of producing this, all the proceeds go to Covenant House and SickKids.”
Kelly gained international attention for his unique Twitter presence and even had celebrity encounters with Canadian rap star Drake.
He now has over 206,000 followers, overtaking Rob Ford’s 202,000 followers to become the top Toronto councillor on Twitter.
Comments