Buy Uniquely

By now we all know the importance of buying locally. Whether we follow through on this or not is another case. But, I preach enough, so I'm not going to do it here, because God knows someone could hold up a mirror when I get started, and I would have to shut up.

Instead, I'm going to tell you about a cool new collaboration that has just begun. It's called Overproof and I'll let them describe themselves to you:

Overproof Affiliates is a group of individuals with a variety of creative backgrounds working together to conceive, produce, market and exhibit art. We are not limited to specific artistic mediums and seek to embrace new challenges that help ourselves push creative boundaries. The Overproof network consists of a diverse assortment of trained professionals practicing fine arts, fashion design, graphic design, arts administration, photography, music production, jewelry, sculpting, screen printing and graffiti arts, just to name a few. Through Overproof, affiliates are provided with facilities and material to produce and hone their craft, assistance with marketing, promoting and selling their work and given opportunities to expand their artistic talents by collaborating with other artists.

My favorite description they give comes later: "Our t-shirts and upcoming product lines are all hand crafted original pieces that are usually produced in limited runs and seek to be exceedingly unique."

Exceedingly unique. Right on! That's what people need to strive for. And I think they're pulling it off so far. Just look at the hippo t-shirts designed by our friend Tom. That's unique as all get out. I'm getting one.

Now, Overproof is just getting up and running, so be patient as they work out the kinks that come with any new endeavor. Dustin and I are very sympathetic to kinks in online endeavors. And flood them with orders. Nothing like demand to work out kinks a little bit quicker.

So, next time you go to your local farmer's market and buy something locally, treat yourself by buying something uniquely, too. Exceedingly unique. Like a shirt with a damn hippo on it.