Last month, David Merritt shared a stage with Richard Branson, the founder of Virgin Group, in Detroit. His goal, alongside other startup founders: to pitch his fashion brand and receive feedback from a panel that included Branson and the CMO of Shinola (a fellow Detroit native), among others. A former basketball captain at the University of Michigan, where he studied business, Merritt’s court-born confidence shows clearly in footage from his pitch. But it’s just as clear that his mission drives him: concurrently with his fashion brand, Merit Goodness, the young entrepreneur runs FATE, a youth mentorship initiative motivating kids in Detroit to aspire to and pursue college degrees. The program provides its students with college scholarships, which are funded with 20 percent of the fashion brand’s profits.
“We believe we can make a beautifully designed product,” Merritt says. And indeed, the Merit line is handsome, with a casual, sporty aesthetic that reads easily from the more athletic-leaning hoodies and joggers to the embroidered tees, V-necks, tanks and more. (In school, Merritt found himself in Michigan sweats and hoodies 90 percent of the time, between class and practice; he describes himself as the company’s typical customer.) “But at the same time,” he continues, “the product that we’re making is making sustainable, long-term impact.”
At this point it’s easy to feel cynical. Every brand has some variation of a “giving back” clause either tacked on to their websites or beaming brightly for a week on their social media profiles. But rather than an addendum to a larger agenda, the FATE program preceded Merit and is its own fully realized operation — a four-year program following a select group of 20 students through their graduation next May. “We’re extremely young, and a very small company,” Merritt admits, “and we are trying to do something pretty big in terms of building two companies at once.” But the operation’s warm reception in Ann Arbor brings promise, and indeed, the company has its sights set on someday opening a superstore in Detroit.
No doubt TOMS started something great with the “one for one” model, which continues to grow. But this is the next step: brands that not only provide raw materials, but draw up the blueprints and lend a hand in the building of communities — or rebuilding, in the case of Detroit. There’s no shortage of cities across the US that could benefit from such an approach. And fortunately, many entrepreneurs like Merritt are stepping up. “I find,” Merritt says, “that there’s more and more companies that are not only interested in the bottom line, but more so interested in the impact that they’re making in their community, with the customers that they serve. They’re not really seen as trends,” he says. “I don’t really see it stopping.”
Nor should it. The popularity of the TOMS model, and the growth of its successor, benefits everyone. Here are six American companies, Merit included, that are working to form a more perfect union.
Merit Goodness
Ann Arbor, MI Based | Serving Detroit, MI
