01 Dec Rêve Retail Team Creates Inspiring Holiday Products
This fall, interns at Rêve Academy learned how to create a successful brand from start to finish. The group of eight interns built two apparel brands and even learned how to operate a 3D printer by creating and selling custom cookie stamps. Impressed yet? Wait till you hear the story behind their brands.
Interns model their brands.
Intern Tahjza explained that she was bullied in seventh grade because of the way she dressed. That experience inspired her and three other interns—Sujoud, Nila, and Khem—to create a line of sweatshirts that took a stance against bullying. The brand is called EmpowerMe, and it’s available exclusively at Rêve Academy’s online store.
The other fall interns—Bryan, Moises, Noe, and Jesse—established another brand: Equal Empire. Bryan said, “We wanted to share a message that opportunity is for everyone. Our sweatshirts give the vibe that you can build your own empire, no matter where you come from. Growing up, it was easy to make friends because you really didn’t care about race, religion, or gender. But now you can’t even walk outside without being hated or hating on another human being. We feel that there’s a lack of equality, and that’s what our brand addresses.”
Both brands were highlighted at the Nov. 5th Twin Cities Social Justice Arts Festival, whose aim is to build community and create social change. Students had the chance to sell their sweatshirts alongside other artisans. Besides hoodies, the Rêve Academy booth also offered customizable cookie stamps.
To create the cookie stamps, students brainstormed ideas and then created their designs in Adobe Illustrator. Then came the hard part: adding the design files to a CAD program, manipulating every detail, and creating prototypes with Rêve Academy’s 3D printer. Intern Moises said of the process, “It was very fun but frustrating. The process was harder than I thought it would be, especially coming up with designs and ideas that would work in real life.”
Intern Noe shows his cookie stamp ideas to a Digiteer.
Intern Bryan perfecting his cookie stamp design on Fusion 360, the CAD software used by Rêve Academy
Each round of printing required patience, since it took more than 2 hours to print a single stamp. The team was also concerned about the food safety of their stamps. But not to fear: the filament used to create each stamp is made of a nontoxic resin made of sugar from starches like potatoes, corn, grain, and beets.
If you didn’t make it to the Social Justice Arts Festival, you can still support the students by making an order at their online store. Sweatshirts are $34.99 and cookie stamps are just $15, making them the perfect stocking stuffer this holiday season.