Just before the pandemic, I was diagnosed with a life-threatening heart condition. The odds weren’t in my favour, and there were moments when I didn’t think I’d make it. But I did.
When you survive something like that, your perspective changes. I felt compelled to do something—anything—that put a little more good into the world. Something that came from the heart.
That’s where the idea for Heart Effect was born.
As I recovered, I began looking into ways to give back. I noticed that many human rights organisations and charities sold merchandise to raise funds, but the products often felt like an afterthought—too logo-heavy, too bland, and ultimately not something most people would choose to wear.
So I flipped the concept. What if a retail brand—desirable in its own right—existed to support charity, rather than the other way around?