STRONGER THREADS FOR A STRONGER COMMUNITY

CISE is an apparel line with an explicit charitable purpose: to commit resources and create opportunities that enrich, empower, and celebrate the Black community. In addition to creating socially impactful merchandise, we achieve this by:

1) Donating to organizations whose missions and services are aligned with CISE to empower the Black community through a fashion-forward lens 

2) Partnering with and supporting Black-owned organizations through purpose-driven events 

Our Impact: To date, CISE has donated over 4,000 PPE masks over $61,500 in product, and $81,000 in monetary support to Black-owned organizations and businesses.

Our Priorities:

Social Justice      |        Entrepreneurship        |          Education

Black people are nearly 3x more likely to be killed by police than white people in the United States (Mapping Police Violence).

 In 2019, there were a total of 5,771,292 employer firms (businesses with more than one employee), of which only 2.3% (134,567) were Black-owned, even though Black people comprise 14.2% of the country's population (Brookings Institution).

Of the 16.6 million total undergraduate students enrolled in the Fall of 2019, Black students made up 2.1 million students of the undergraduate population (12.7%) but they were not equally represented at different institution types. (Postsecondary National Policy Institute). 

Sustainability

CISE is proud to engage in the following methods to help care for our planet and mitigate the impact of waste in our communities: 

1) Supply chain responsibility through responsible sourcing

2) Upcycling and donating vetted returned products

3) Working with local Black artists to repurpose unused or returned products

Product upcycling: CISE upcycles its designs by storing unsold or past collections to either donate or collaborate with local artists on creative projects. This process not only reduces waste but also supports the community and gives the products new life through innovative partnerships.

Working with designers: As previously mentioned, we take unused and unsold or slightly defective bags and work with local artists to repurpose and redesign them, either selling them as exclusive items or donating them to partnering nonprofit organizations that then give them to their beneficiaries. An example of this is our collaboration with the nonprofit organization, Compton G.IRLs Club, where we held space for over 15 middle school and high school-age girls to paint their own custom CISE bag, which they kept at the end of the event. 

Product donations: Since our inception, CISE has donated over $60,000 in product to partner organizations, including WalkGood LA, Justice 4 Black Girls, the Black Emotional and Mental Health Collective (BEAM), and more. Donating excess product is a viable way of repurposing old or unsold bags and giving them a newer, more meaningful purpose. 

Responsible sourcing: At CISE, we are deeply committed to responsible sourcing by ensuring transparency throughout our supply chain and building personal relationships with our manufacturers. This allows us to align our sustainability goals with their practices. We work closely with our manufacturing partners to uphold ethical standards and promote responsible manufacturing processes.

Additionally, we regularly assess working conditions and labor rights to ensure our partners maintain high standards, reflecting our dedication to ethical sourcing in every aspect of our production.