Do you know about Triple Thread Apparel?

A screen-printing Social Enterprise in support of Dismas House, Triple Thread Apparel has a very simple mission...

To create quality custom apparel for businesses, organizations and non-profits while helping former offenders reintegrate into society through employment and job-training.

For the past year, student volunteers from Vanderbilt have been hard at work laying the foundation for a brand new social enterprise directly in support of Dismas House.  Over the winter of 2009, our faithful student volunteers found that they were hearing the same story from our residents week after week; no one was willing to hire them.  Recognizing this as a genuine social problem, these young innovators decided that instead of being disheartened, they were going to take action.

Together with Dismas Inc. CEO Bill Coleman, founder (and Dismas student resident!) Kyle McCollom spent the summer between his Junior and Senior years at Vanderbilt developing this unique approach to crime reduction; educating himself on social enterprise, securing start-up funding, establishing a location and hiring the first employees.  Triple Thread has already achieved national attention, receiving start-up grants from the Corrections Corporation of America, the Wal-Mart Foundation in partnership with the Clinton Global Initiative, the Ingram Scholarship Program, Do Something, and Vanderbilt Entrepreneurial Challenge.

With these funds Triple Thread has been able to make its initial launch, hiring its first ex offender, taking orders and printing shirts on a small printing press.