Hunger Hero: Tristan

Today, Grit & Gratitude Co opens its virtual doors for its first-ever t-shirt sale. Started up by 9-year-old Tristan, G&G is a t-shirt line inspired by graffiti art, YouTubers, video-gaming, streetwear and skate culture.

“Because I could never find good quality T-shirts that had cool graphics on them, my dad suggested I make my own,” Tristan explains. “That led me to thinking that If I was going to design one for myself, I could create a collection and try to sell them. So here I am! I’m an elementary school student learning to be an entrepreneur between hockey practices, homework and playing with friends.”

Tristan believes in giving back to his community and 10% of all G&G sales are being generously donated to Backpack Buddies.

“I can’t imagine what it would be like to go through a day let alone a weekend without food,” he says. “I want to help these families in some way.”

While Tristan may be a young entrepreneur, he wants you to know G&G is his business.

“I’ve been working on this for the past few months over the weekends. I started by looking at references, getting ideas from around the world and talking to my friends about what they like in clothing brands. While my parents are helping me to set up this Shopify site and my Instagram, I selected the graffiti artist, selected the design, art directed the ninja character, chose the colours and even created the logo by picking a font that I thought looked modern. This really is MY business! I’ve tried a few different ideas that didn’t work out (even tried to do my own graffiti) so I am really thrilled with what I’ve come up with. I’ll be working with different artists to create a wider collection, but my launch T-shirts are the Graffiti Ninja series.”