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.
