Robert Geller Creates T-shirt for COVID-19 Relief
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Robert Geller is showing his charitable side again.
The men’s designer has created a limited-edition T-shirt in which sales will be donated to the fight against the coronavirus. The shirt sports script type across the front that reads: “I’m scared too but we’ll be alright.” Geller said the message is designed to “reflect the sentiment of the time and offer some optimism in these uncertain months.
“I have been thinking what I could do to somehow contribute to helping this situation,” he added. “I thought of the success of the Immigrant T-shirt and decided to make a new T-shirt with a graphic that reads: ‘I’m scared too but we’ll be alright.’ I felt that this was fitting for the emotions we are all feeling.”
In 2017, he designed a T-shirt with the word “Immigrant” across the front and profits were donated to the ACLU. At that time, he teamed with Grailed to sell the shirts, 190 of which sold out in three hours and prompted a second version. That effort raised more than $20,000 for the organization.
Geller is releasing 100 of the COVID-19-related T-shirts through his Robert Geller Studio beginning on May 8. They will retail for $50 and will be sold on his e-commerce site. All profits will be donated to the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund.
The Hamburg, Germany-born Geller has a solid fashion résumé centered around a romantic European aesthetic. During his time at the Rhode Island School of Design, he started his career at Marc Jacobs as an intern. It was there that he met Alexandre Plokhov, who was working as a patternmaker, and together they started a brand called Cloak. The label attracted a strong following, winning the Ecco Domani award in 2003 as well as the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund grant in 2004.
After that collaboration came to an end, Geller struck out on his own with a women’s line called Harald. The Robert Geller men’s collection launched in fall 2007 and two years later Geller won the GQ/CFDA Best New Menswear Designer award followed in 2011 by the Swarovski Award for top men’s designer. Last year, he teamed with Lululemon on a special. men’s activewear collection. Onward Global Fashion is Geller’s partner.
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