Four bold black letters. A resonating anthem. Driving home kindness with a simple message. When Julian Donaldson and Darian Simon created the Be A Good Person fashion line, it was about bringing people together with a timeless proverb.
“It was in 2015, and social media was kind of becoming polarizing,” Trevor Obering, Creative Director of Operations, explains. “They just kind of wanted to put something out online that was positive. A good, clean message. So yeah, be a good person.”
It started with stickers, but quickly became a local icon around Denver and the surrounding areas. With Julian’s eye for graphic design and Darian’s background in photography and social media, they created a platform with shirts, hats, backpacks, bracelets and more, hoping to convey a message of kindness.
“I think a lot of times in the world in general it’s like a lacking of something,” Trevor says. “For them [Julian and Darian], they loved what they were doing, but it was like, can we make more of an impact?”
He goes on, “I always tell people we would be a terrible company if we didn’t uplift the community that uplifts us.”
And uplift is what they do, no matter the need.
“We partnered with the zoo,” Trevor explains. “When we’re doing a tour of the zoo, we learned it was either the tiger or the lion that has diabetes and gets two shots a day. They would die in the wild immediately…so we reverse-engineered that, and we’re like, can we enrich the lives of the animals where they’re at?”
However, while talking with the zoo, they discovered the local families in the surrounding areas couldn’t afford to go. Be A Good Person decided those kids deserved the zoo more than ever. They designed a shirt, raised money and bought memberships for the local families.
Helping youth sports is another way Be A Good Person shows up. A former collegiate soccer player, Trevor grew up playing at Real Colorado for Lorne Donaldson, Julian’s father. When Be A Good Person wanted to help Sled Hockey of Colorado, a non-profit that provides adaptive hockey for kids with disabilities, it hit home for Trevor.
“We partnered with The Avalanche,” Trevor explains. “We did these big group nights and sold a bunch of tickets. Your ticket bought you a T-shirt, and a ticket and then it donated too. We were able to raise over $2,000 and donate 500 hockey pucks to Sled Hockey of Colorado. It was just incredible, and I got to go hand out the pucks.”
Be A Good Person doesn’t stop there. They have partnered with every sports team in Denver, Lululemon, Make-A-Wish and The Boys and Girls Club. For every organization or non-profit they work with, it comes down to figuring out how they can help or speak to the organizations, big or small.
“It’s trying to just find little things that speak to us,” Trevor says. “And also listening too because I think that’s a big part is just being able to listen and see where you’re needed and wanted.”
To date, Be A Good Person has raised over 2 million dollars for Make-A-Wish. Most recently, they helped a little girl who loved camping, but her family had to sell their camper for her treatments. Be A Good Person stepped in and raised money to buy the family a new camper.
“It’s just so impactful,” Trevor explains. “Just being able to see, interact with those families…holding the dad, giving them a handshake, a hug, being like, ‘Man, you okay?’ and they say ‘Absolutely not, but we’re going to get through this.’”
For Be A Good Person, it’s about walking the walk alongside their perfect four-word motto.
“It was in 2015, and social media was kind of becoming polarizing. They just kind of wanted to put something out online that was positive. A good, clean message. So yeah, be a good person.”