If you have not checked it out yet. The online store is up and running. You can start by checking out two new shirts from GRN Apple Tree.
Check them out here…
Starting this Friday Rise Up Phoenix is going to be hosting “Summer Sessions” at the Hotel San Carlos. We will be up at the pool on the 3rd floor with live music being spun by DJ Al. Come have some drinks and chill in the pool to get out of the hot Arizona night heat. The party will go from 10:00p.m.-2:00a.m. and the proceeds from the $5 cover go to Rise Up International in an effort to raise children up out of poverty.
RISE UP PHOENIX
APPAREL . ART . ACTIVISM
Most good ideas seem to start over a pint with good friends and in that way the new boutique in downtown Phoenix is no different. Birthed out of conversations in pubs in Bend Oregon and Phoenix Arizona the idea of having a flagship store for Rise Up was something that quickly gained traction and movement. We began to dream in the style that has given Rise Up its definition, that is we dreamt big and then started to believe that with the creativity and resources that come through a community committed to justice and beauty we could do anything we wanted. All of this was taking place in the early fall of last year.
By December we began the process of looking for locations and assembling the team of people that would be able to turn this dream into a reality. We wanted to have a boutique that would reflect the things that animate us in life. We wanted to be close to the growing arts community in the downtown Phoenix area. We wanted to be close to public transportation and the ASU downtown campus because of our belief in sustainable living and education. And we wanted to have a store that itself was a work of art instead of another retail box that lacks any true diversity. With those values in mind we located a space at the ground level of the historic San Carlos Hotel, right in the heart of the Phoenix skyline.
In the beginning of 2008 we started the process of tearing out the old floors, fixtures, and walls. We found furnishings in gurneys and church pews, looking for items that had contributed to the process of helping and healing individuals and families as we embarked on a similar process through the unlikely avenue of fashion. The store started to take shape and we found other brands that would compliment our commitment to art and activism (Obey, Insight, Toms Shoes, Grn Apple Tree).
The doors first opened to the public in the middle of March for our “soft opening”. We have begun to establish ourselves in the community as a store that is committed to apparel, art and activism. We are connecting people with the international humanitarian work that Rise Up is doing in Nicaragua, India, and China. We are also committed to making social changes on a local level through some initiatives we will be working on in the Phoenix area. As a start we are working with an organization called Humane borders in putting water stations in the desert to look after the lives of migrant families. We are also partnering with a start up organization called Phoenix Copper Bikes that is committed to bicycle advocacy as well as providing affordable transportation to the working poor.
Last week we had two huge Rise Up launch parties. We had a DJ’d house party and a night of acoustic music at the hotel San Carlos. This was a grand opening weekend to celebrate the store, the work that Rise Up is doing in the world, and the friendships we are forming as we collectively seek to help children rise up out of poverty. We are excited about the future of the boutique as a hub for people who are in to fashion, art, and making a positive difference in the world. The store is located at 204 N. Central Ave, Phoenix AZ 85003 and the online store will be coming soon at www.riseupstores.com . For more information on how you can be involved please contact Kevin@riseupinternational.com.
At the foot of the Hotel San Carlos, a clothing boutique has arisen selling the latest in socially activated clothing, art, and accessories. The boutique, called Rise Up, is located at 204 North Central Avenue in downtown Phoenix.
A portion of all gross receipts has been earmarked for support efforts in Nicaragua, India, China, and Phoenix, Arizona through ther non profit organization Rise Up International. Not everyone can sponsor an orphan, but everyone buys clothes, so their goal is to take things people buy normally and use the profits to help others. Fashion and art are always at the forefront of our society, and this is what makes Rise Up International so pivotal and unique.
The Rise Up boutique is into street art, pulp posters, revolution, and the 80’s, to name a few. Our demographic is everyone: indie kids, hip hop kids, nerds, jocks, fashionistas, children, parents, and anyone else who wants to make a difference in the world and look good while doing it.
The Rise Up Boutique sells men’s and women’s tee shirts and hoodies with artful graphics and phrases that encourage peace, outreach, and service to the larger community. Rise Up also carries quality denim, women’s tops and dresses, hats, and sunglasses in addition to unique jewelry and artwork by local artists. Along with designs by Rise Up International, the store has clothing and accessories from other socially conscience brands like OBEY and Grn Apple Tree as well as TOM’S Shoes, where with every pair of shoes you buy, they give a pair to a child in need. The boutique is also stocked with other high-end product from Insight, Quail, and Sabre Vision.
The Rise Up Boutique is the flagship store for Rise Up International a non-profit organization that empowers disenfranchised children, women and families through community development programs. Typically this is through - but not limited to - the creation of schools and orphanages servicing the marginalized in poverty-stricken countries.
The work of Rise Up International provided the impetus for developing the Rise Up Boutique. A portion of all sales is dedicated toward helping the poor around the world and in Phoenix. Projects led by Rise Up International support the education of Nicaraguan children who are living in La Chureca, part of a community of people who live in a dump. La Chureca means “scavenger” in English, which is the primary occupation of its inhabitants who eke an existence off of the trash and garbage of the larger community. This crime riddled pocket of abject poverty is hazardous in so many ways. Hungry children have become addicted to glue to mask the pain of their starvation. Rise Up International is building a library, supports teachers serving this community, and helps provide rehabilitation opportunities to the child caught up in this horrendous cycle for survival.
Rise Up International provides an Art Vocational School for orphans in China. Young adults, who were once at risk of being homeless, are now being trained as master artists and their art is being sold in China and the United States. This helps provide them with a viable living and also helps to support a local orphanage with three hundred children.
Rise Up International is also operating several community schools in one of the poorest regions of India. Over three hundred children from the villages of Bakrour and Basardi receive free primary school education. The children attending the school are part of the “untouchable class” and have not been able to receive an education in the past.
One of the ways Rise Up International raises awareness of these issues and its operations is through Rise Up Clothing. All of the profits made from Rise Up Clothing are used to fund these projects.
When designing the clothing, the artists at Rise Up Inernaional want to make it a bit controversial, but also fashionable. The newest line is a combination of anti-war themes, community involvement, B-movie art, hand drawn designs, and organic tees with an earth-first message.
Rise Up International brand artwork has been featured in over thirty magazines and newspapers including: Metro.Pop, ReadyMade, Racket, Beautiful Decay, Modernism, Soma, Plenty, and the New York Times.
On a local level, Rise Up International along with the Rise Up Boutique are currently working together to identify needs and assessing possible Phoenix area projects to support seeing that children and adults are in need in metro Phoenix as well.
Rise Up is both a call to revolt and to elevate. It’s a revolutionary pull on those of us who are privileged to “rise up” and make a difference in the world by not settling for comfort but instead helping others elevate and empower themselves out of poverty.
Rise Up the boutique is owned and operated by Coliberation, LLC.
We are trying to change the world by changing the way we live. We take a local approach to global change by investing in art, fashion, and everyday people. 10 percent of all our sales are donated to RISE UP, an international humanitarian organization committed to "rising children up" from the cycle of poverty and exploitation by providing free education & art rehabilitation programs for kids in Nicaragua, China, and India. We are also working on some local projects in the Phoenix area where our physical store is located.
204 N. Central Ave | Phoenix, AZ | 85004
623.910.9398
info@riseupstores.com