Green Dream plants tree for every item purchased

Green Dream Clothing Company promises to plant a tree for every item sold, including accessories.

Adam Swartz, a junior studying arts management, is the founder of the company.

“I basically do everything from finances to marketing to social media,” he said.

Swartz said he had always been into fashion and thought it would be something fun to try.

“I got a little more serious late 2011,” he said. “I got incorporated through the state of Indiana and opened a bank account so I’m all legal.”

He also designs all his merchandise. To build the brand, junior telecommunications major Ben Tamir Rothenberg started helping with media, taking photos and creating YouTube videos.

“He was making shirts but had no high-quality pictures, and so I filled that void,” Rothenberg said. “We needed a certain look, a look of professionalism that we strive to attain.”

Swartz said he got the idea of planting trees from his target market, “the environmentally aware 20-something college kid.”

“I’ve always cared about the environment personally, and anything you do today you have to be a little different,” he said.

Every week, Swartz said he sees how many items he’s sold and then pays Plant-It 2020, a separate nonprofit, to plant a tree.

“I planted 20 trees in Zimbabwe,” he said. “It’s a pretty fun thing. Business has been good.”

The clothes themselves also carry positive messages, Swartz said.

“We’re not going to write ‘swag’ on our shirts — we’re going to write ‘stay positive,’” Rothenberg said. “I’m a fan of chasing your dreams.”

Both would both like to continue Green Dream after graduation.

“The next thing I’d like to do is not a food truck idea but a clothes truck,” Swartz said. “Looking down the road 10 years, I’d like to have my own store.”

Junior Joe Turner is the head of Green Dream’s initiative to form a street team of interns. Turner said he would also like to see the brand be a recognizable name around campus and continue it after graduation.

“This is the first semester we’ve had more turnaround and more of a chance of making it,” Rothenberg said. “You really have to push yourself to do things. Now we’re making our passion more of a reality.”

Swartz takes what he learns in the classroom to help him with his business.

“Every group project I’ve done I’ve tried to center it on Green Dream,” he said. “I like working on the real life stuff more than in the classroom.”

Turner said he wants to spread the cause of Green Dream and promote the brand.

“It’s not just clothes, it’s a lifestyle,” Turner said.