A new Toronto clothing brand is under fire, accused of making light of homelessness, but its owner says his products are actually meant to raise awareness of those suffering from poverty.The brand, Homeless Toronto, was launched a few weeks ago by Trevor Nicholls. His products, listed online, include T shirts, hoodies and sweatpants, some with the wording “homeless” and “change please” written across. The items range anywhere from $20 to $135. It also sells tin mugs for $20 each with the “change please” tagline.The company has been accused on social media, including many posts on its Facebook page, of exploiting homelessness in order to make a profit.“We kind of knew right off the bat that there would be a bit of controversy, just given the subject and the stigma around homelessness,” said Nicholls. “We do want to change people’s attitudes a little bit and change the overall feeling towards homeless.”Nicholls said he plans to distribute some of the clothing he makes to people living on the street and also donate 40 per cent of proceeds from all sales to organizations that support Toronto’s homeless population. One of the organizations he has in mind is Eva’s Initiatives for Homeless Youth, which he said he’s already contacted.But Alanna Scott, development and campaign director for Eva’s Initiatives, said the organization wasn’t aware of this until Wednesday morning and hadn’t had any prior contact with Homeless Toronto’s owners.“They’ve said in a number of different ways on their website what they’re planning to donate but we don’t have any arrangements made,” said Scott. “We don’t have a business arrangement to have them promote Eva’s or donate a portion of proceeds.”She said any partnership with a business that wants to donate a portion of its proceeds to Eva’s would ...
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