Here on WSB last week, you met Heart On My Sleeve in this story – three men, working out of a Pigeon Point duplex, hoping to change the world for the better, with recycled-material fashion, design, and music: Navy veteran Johnathan Oliver, former UW football player Shelton Sampson (shown above), and musician Art B. They were hopeful their “big break” was just around the corner; in the week and a half since we met them, some new excitement has materialized, starting with Seattle Fashion Week next month. Johnathan wrote to say:

Seattle Fashion Week has invited us to show our line. They also want us to serve as visual graphic directors for the show. We will also have the opportunity to design a piece for Vitamin Water. They are one of the sponsors for the event. They will be providing us with the money to purchase the materials needed for the piece. We have so many great ideas and I’m sure we would be able to make quite a statement at this show. We feel that a successful show can and will catapult us in the local fashion scene as well as the global.

Johnathan later e-mailed to say fashion-industry insider BJ Coleman has agreed to come here for the show, if they can figure out how to get him here. And that’s not all. They’ve been asked to perform some of their songs at a Fashion Week promo event on March 26, plus:

We will be creating 10 pieces for the fashion show. Each piece will have a charity associated to it. Such charities as The American Heart Association, the glass-blowing program in Tacoma. We are also creating a piece for Fashion Week that will be auctioned off at the Community School of West Seattle to raise money to replace technologies in their preschool. The kids will actually be helping us construct the piece as well.

They’ve been getting by on something of a shoestring – so in order to make all this happen, they have a wish list that you might be able to help with – read on to see it, plus an easy way to help:

The “glass-blowing program,” by the way, refers to something they told us about during the meeting that led to our story last week – budget cuts threatening jobs held by young women at a program in Tacoma, and a fundraising auction for which Heart On My Sleeve has designed a donation, one of many charity contributions they’ve made.

(from left, Johnathan, Shelton, Art)
Now they’re asking for a little help in return, in hopes they will be able to fully focus on Fashion Week and not on doing whatever else they can to get by between now and then. We asked for a list of specifics – and it’s a long one:

Sewing Machine
Embroidery machine or someone who can embroider and has a machine
Needles
threads
vintage clothing
digital camera
video camera
fax machine
business phone line
screen printing material:screens, ink, emulsion etc
Blank t shirts
photographers
cameramen
seamstress/tailor
fashion designers
artists
writers
food/non-perishable
ironing board
designing monitor
graphic pen
pressure washer
vintage accessories
fabrics
office materials
old books
record player
scanner
art
workspace
computer hard drive

funds for company vehicles
funds for company office rent
laptops
painting materials such as brushes, canvas etc
volunteers for miscellaneous tasks
printing services so we can print flyers and other media materials
funding for trip to NY to get materials for couture pieces and to invite celebrities to Seattle Fashion Week
Graphic designers
Web designers/specialists
set decorator/stager
fashion consultants
West Seattle charity reps
funding for gas for company vehicles
Video software
military uniforms
white drawing boards
markers
mirrors
motorcycle helmets
roller blades
blog specialist
funding to create website
van
love

We mentioned PayPal might be the best way for them to take donations from anyone who cares to chip in $ – so they’ve got an account, and here’s the link. Otherwise, here’s the rest of their contact info:

Heart On My Sleeve
E-mail: onlyhoms@gmail.com
Phone: 206-898-8857 or 206-571-7049
Web: onlyhoms.com