How Toms Shoes Influenced a Guatemalan Shirt Company

Manufacturing

As of Monday, May 26, 2014

Toms Shoes donates one shoe to a person in need for every shoe it sells.

Christian and Steven Cremer, brothers born in Guatemala, give 15 meals to poor school children for every shirt they sell from their 2-year-old company called B Frog.

The 100 percent cotton shirts that come in various styles for men and women, such as polo, V-neck and tanks, have a Guatemalan touch to them. Every shirt has a bit of Mayan fabric somewhere on the garment. It could be around the collar, along the placket, around the inner cuffs or on a pocket.

"We've had a lot of acceptance in California," said Steven Cremer, who was manning the B Frog booth at the Apparel Sourcing Show held May 20-22 in Guatemala City. Most of their sales have been online and with specialty stores.

The idea for the shirt line came when Christian Cremer was taking a venture creation class while getting his MBA at a Florida university. The fictitious company he created turned into reality.

Now they are expanding the line to include tennis shirts and shirts made of recycled denim.

Later this year, they also will be selling organic Guatemalan coffee. For every pound of coffee you buy, they will donate to a farmer two pounds of organic coffee beans to be planted.