Verlan is on a mission to create clothing that does more than just look good. The Paris-based brand is doing just that with its new 'Art for All' program – an initiative that aims to promote art and its accessibility via a series of non-profit collaborations with international artists and collectives, including the likes of Marie Hazard, So Youn Lee and Cinga Samson. For each project, Verlan provides the artist or collective with a heavyweight organic cotton T-shirt that serves as a blank canvas for them to decorate and design as they wish. The T-shirt is then sold exclusively through Verlan, with all the generated profits donated to a specially chosen charity.
The latest collaboration in the series is with the Kourtrajmé School, a French non-profit organisation and artist collective working in audiovisual media. Founded in 2018 by French film director Ladj Ly and privately funded, it's totally free, open to all, and dedicated to teaching different fields of cinema.
The T-shirts, of which only 125 have been produced (with 25 donated to students of the Kourtrajmé School), feature the Kourtrajmé School logo on the chest and on the lower part of the back, the Verlan logo on the sleeve and a black and white print by renowned street artist JR on the back. All hand-numbered from 1 to 125, the tees are made in Portugal using a sturdy heavyweight organic cotton. Perhaps most impressive is the integration of blockchain technology. Every T-Shirt is equipped with an NFC chip, allowing future owners to access information about their tee, receive exclusive invitations to future launches and easily resell the T-shirt on marketplaces.
All profits from the Kourtrajmé collaboration will be dedicated to the set-up of future Masterclasses at the school and the production of short-films shot by the students. These are T-shirts that look good, feel good and do good.
Explore the full Art for All series.
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