Givedon, a new Miami-based shirting company, helps bring smiles to the children of Ecuador.
Givedon offers eight button-down shirt styles from solids to checks and plaids, available in a range of shades, including salmon, blue, and magenta. Each style is 100 percent cotton and tailored to fit regular or slim. Pictured, Givedon’s Sorriso shirt (on model).
Ecuadorean-born, Miami-raised business partners Willy Moeller and Felipe Perez-Anda knew they wanted to work on a philanthropic project together—it was just a matter of determining the right one. “For the past year or so, we had been looking to start a business with a higher purpose than personal and professional growth,” says Perez-Anda. “It had to give back to people in need or in some way touch someone’s life for the better.” It didn’t take long to figure out that journey; while at a clothing trade show, the two decided to launch a men’s shirting company, and Givedon was born.
“The meaning behind the name came to us from these two words that define our brand,” says Moeller. “We make a life by what we ‘give,’ and ‘don,’ which is a title in Spanish used to address a man worthy of respect and honor. Givedon, then, is defined as the mark of a true gentleman—men with purpose who care and put others before themselves, who lift up each person around them, and find satisfaction in helping others.”
To fulfill the style end of their company’s mission, Perez-Anda and Moeller use 100 percent cotton in their shirting, and the details are the focus. Prices start at $59 a shirt. “We have had problems when buying other brands,” admits Moeller. “Either they were too tight or too loose. We wanted to make a great-fitting, comfortable, and affordable shirt. Each design has its own personality and minimalistic detailing to make it unique.”
Felipe Perez-Anda with one of the Ecuadorean children who has received a toy with the help of donations from the sale of Givedon shirts.
Adds Perez-Anda, “We didn’t want to stop only [with] the shirts. We wanted our consumers to enjoy these details from the moment they received their package. Each shirt comes laced in a detailed ribbon with a label explaining the brand and our mission, ‘A smile is on the way.’”
This phrase gets to the heart of what Perez-Anda and Moeller are accomplishing. For each shirt purchased, a toy, such as a truck, soccer ball, doll, or purse, is donated to one of several children’s organizations in Ecuador. “The reason for these types of donations,” explains Perez-Anda, “is that we remembered what it was like to be a little kid and to receive a toy. It was the most amazing feeling. With a simple toy, your imagination can take you places that you have never been, and we wanted to give this to these kids, the majority of whom do not even have a single toy themselves.”
Toys reach children in need in Ecuador with the help of Fundación Verdad y Vida Ava, which helped Perez-Anda and Moeller find Casa Victoria, an organization that supports families in need in the rough San Roque neighborhood in Old Town Quito, and Henry Davis, an orphanage in the Andes mountains that is home to 100 children. When a child receives one of these toys, a photo of that child goes up on the Givedon website so purchasers can see evidence of their gift.
And while Moeller and Perez-Anda are satisfied for now to bring joy to Ecuadorean kids, eventually they hope to further their mission by expanding into a complete men’s clothing line. Says Moeller, “We want to be able to give smiles worldwide.”