LOCAL GIFTS: Apparel

Locally-made Gift ideas Nothing about 2020 has been normal, thanks to the pandemic and its enhanced racism awareness, but StreetWise was blessed with help from its friends and so now this holiday season, we are using our city-wide platform to return the favor. StreetWise vendors are entrepreneurs, and so we are promoting other Chicago entrepreneurs of innovative products – many of them nonprofits – from varied cultures. We are all in this together.

by Suzanne Hanney

Giveashi*t

For the last six years, Daily Planet Productions has teamed with StreetWise and local artists to make hand-screened designer T-shirts and other merchandise to sell. This year, 32 artists donated designs focused on the theme, “repair the world.” It’s all part of a campaign called “GiveAShi*t:” 100% of the profits go to StreetWise. To date, GiveAShi*t has donated over $140,000 to StreetWise, where homeless and low-income vendors purchase magazines for 90 cents, resell them for $2, and keep $1.10 as profit. The T-shirts can be purchased online at www.giveashirt.net. Select designs (like this one modeled by StreetWise Vendor Keith Hardiman, by artist Cody Hudson) are also available as tote bags, notebooks, coffee mugs, posters and hand towels.

“People in Chicago are always looking for different ways to give back to those in need and GiveAShi*t offers a chance to buy meaningful holiday gifts for friends and family while supporting the hard-working vendors of StreetWise,” said Scott Marvel, president of Daily Planet Productions and mastermind behind the GiveAShi*t campaign. Daily Planet Productions Ltd. is a full-service video production company headquartered in Chicago with offices in Los Angeles and Washington DC/Baltimore. Daily Planet can concept, shoot, edit and animate and clients include businesses, nonprofits and advertising agencies. Daily Planet has won multiple Midwest Emmys and Tellys.

Union Handmade

Union Handmade is a combined shop and 13-member atelier united by a love of timeless design, made slowly and with integrity, by hand. Among the womenswear options are Nancy Melvin’s wide leg trousers and tunic jackets, which offer a sense of presence with a touch of whimsy, as would be expected by her 40-year career in theatre and dance costuming; Zone by Pamela Vanderlinde, whose flair for tailored suits is now captured in textbooks by Bloomsbury Publishing and classes she teaches at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago; and Union Clothing by Jamie LaPorta and Leigh Deleonardo, a contemporary collection of relaxed silhouettes in easy care fabrics for everyday life. Hats do more than keep you warm at Unionmade – they also convey style. You’ll find hand knits by Ruby Bohannon; Kate Burch’s etcetera millinery casual cashmere hats and gloves that marry old and new, comfort and beauty; Laura Hubka, who is a past winner of GenArts Fresh Faces in Design award for accessory design, and more. Jewelers include Katy Froeter’s sterling silver, brass, steel and gold with the occasional stone and Erin Rossi, a sculptor and photographer who started in beadwork but moved to sterling silver, bronze, copper and enamel, because she realized the creative possibilities over beads alone. Located at 3860 N. Lincoln Ave., the store is open during the pandemic by private appointment; call 773.348.1400, text 815.575.1355 or email unionhandmade@gmail.com unionhandmade.com