“You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone,” goes the song by Joni Mitchell.
When August’s Lake Erie algae bloom left over 400,000 people in Ohio and Michigan without clean drinking water for several days, Leslie and Brian Athmer felt a similar sentiment.
Leslie, originally from Toledo, brainstormed with her husband to find a way to not only spread awareness about conserving the Great Lakes but also raise money toward the cause.
Together, the couple, now living in Chicago, started the company Sailored, which sells Toledo-themed T-shirts and donates 15 percent of profits to the Alliance for the Great Lakes, a regional organization focused on protecting all five Great Lakes.
“We figured why not offer something that people would want to buy anyway, but is also donating to a great cause,” Leslie said.
The original intention was to open a nonprofit of the same name, but the couple wanted flexibility in who they donated to and how much they gave. With identical backgrounds in engineering, they both wanted a creative outlet and designing apparel for all ages fulfilled this as well as their philanthropic goal.
Their motto from the start was “Keep the Great Lakes GREAT!”
Leslie traces her interest in the Great Lakes to when she was a small child. Her parents were avid sailboat enthusiasts. The company name comes from memories of sailing on her parents’ boat, Holy Toledo.
After earning her bachelor’s degree, Leslie continued her studies at DePaul University and got her Masters of Business Administration in sustainability, taking several entrepreneurship classes focused on social responsibility.
Brian said they are developing new designs specific to the Toledo area in hopes of shining a light on the city’s pride. Although he grew up in Michigan and didn’t know much about the city until meeting his wife, he’s optimistic about promoting the Downtown area.
“The Great Lakes and all these different things have all been an important part of our lives,” Brian said. “If you’re passionate about something there’s definitely a lot of tools out there to figure out what you need to do to figure things out. It’s rewarding.”
Once Sailored was established, the pair approached Jennifer Caddick, engagement director at the Alliance for the Great Lakes, asking what they could do to help. Caddick said she was pleasantly surprised to find such eagerness toward assisting the alliance’s mission.
The Alliance for the Great Lakes began in the 1970s as a group focused on preserving Lake Michigan, but by 2005 interest in preserving the Great Lakes had grown exponentially, so they shifted their focus toward all five Great Lakes.
“I think everyone takes for granted the fact that they live so close to the Great Lakes,” Leslie said.
“It is such a great resource, and until you suddenly don’t have water for a few days, that’s when I think you really start to realize the impact it has on your life.”
The store went live last week at www.sailored.com, where clothing as well as handbags highlighting the Great Lakes are available in several colors and sizes, with baby onesies also available.
