Sunday, March 19, 2000
Bus driver markets anti-hate shirts
Passengers' insults provided inspiration for campaign
BY JENNY CALLISON
Enquirer contributor
For more than a year, Jami Israfil has made changing attitudes his business. During the fall of 1998, this bus driver for the Dayton Public Schools heard students saying things he didn't like. Many were bickering and calling each other “haters.” One day, with a busful of middle school students from Roth Leadership Academy, things came to a head.
“What really pushed it over the edge was there was an incident between a young lady and a boy on the bus,” Mr. Israfil recalled. “I said, "OK, boys sit on this side, girls on this side.' Then they called me a hater, too.”
MERCHANDISE
WITH A MESSAGE
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Jami Israfil works out of his home. His mother keeps the books and manages the finances for the fledgling company.
Stop Hatin' T-shirts and sweat shirts come in eight colors and a range of sizes, up to XXXL. T-shirt prices start at $15; sweats start at $20.
Complete information is available on the company's Web site at www.stophatin.com. Or call toll-free (888) 786-7428 (STOP HATE).
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The incident convinced Mr. Israfil that he should do something to change the climate on his bus and maybe in society.
Mr. Israfil went home after work and pondered positive ways to counter insults. A simple statement seemed to say it best: Stop Hatin'. He experimented with logos, such as encircling the word “hate” with a slash through it. He finally decided to keep the image simple, too, then bought the canvas for his message: shirts.
“My mother typed it up on the computer as camera-ready art,” Mr. Israfil said. “I bought two dozen shirts and took them to Screen Works here in Dayton. All the shirts were black with bold white lettering.”
Translating for the general public, Mr. Israfil explains that the teens were using the word “hate” in a different sense than adults usually do.
“To young people, the word "hating' means envy, backbiting, disrespect and other similar behaviors,” he said.
Roth student Aaron Simmons, who rode Mr. Israfil's bus last year, said: “We told him he was a hater, and he just be laughing. But while he was laughing, he was coming up with ideas and concepts.”
The aspiring entrepreneur sold the shirts from his car, which he parked on a vacant lot on Gettysburg Avenue in west Dayton. He marketed the shirts to friends and students, who enjoyed seeing what they had inspired. And he wore a Stop Hatin' shirt every day to work.
Last spring, Mr. Israfil opened a Web site to market his message and his merchandise to a wider audience. He said his e-strategy has generated about $7,000 in sales and has proved that the slogan appeals to people in a variety of situations.
“I got an e-mail from a guy who works at a radio station in Serbia. He was surfing and came across my Web site,” Mr. Israfil said. “He wanted a T-shirt but couldn't afford one, since he makes only $20 a week. I e-mailed him a copy of my press release and sent him two shirts: one for him and one for him to give away over the air. I mean, this is in the middle of where a lot of stuff is happening.”
Mr. Israfil has received orders from a man in Moscow and a woman in Canada. His customers are of all ages and all races.
Three area radio stations have featured Mr. Israfil and his Stop Hatin' shirts. He recently received an inquiry from a television shopping network, which owns 27 stations nationwide.
“If they decide to carry the line, they tell me 10 million households per day will see the shirts,” Mr. Israfil said.
Dan Setters, manager of the Kroger store on Gettysburg Avenue, helped Mr. Israfil get his shirts displayed in several of the chain's Dayton-area locations.
“Basically, what he was doing was selling (the shirts) off the front of his car,” Mr. Setters said. “I bought one, then I bought another. Then I approached him because of the message being so powerful.”
Mr. Setters arranged for participating Krogers to carry the Stop Hatin' merchandise for several weeks during February and March, to coincide with Black History Month.
“With the racial problems we tend to have in this country, if (the message) can help break down barriers, I want to help,” Mr. Setters said.
The manager said Stop Hatin' shirts had done well in his store, and Mr. Israfil agreed that sales had been brisk, spawning a recent order for about 1,000 shirts.
“A lady called and said she bought a shirt at the Sugar Creek Kroger in Kettering,” Mr. Israfil said. “She said, "I just bought one of your shirts, but I want to know what it means,' and I told her we were talking about any kind of negative hate.”
Mr. Israfil's mother, Khadija I. Ahmad, isn't surprised that the public is warming to her son's concept.
“In the world of fashion ... you can find everything printed on the clothes we wear, everything from initials to designers' names to slogans that most often have no real meaning or truly redeeming qualities,” she said. The Stop Hatin' organization offers an alternative, she said.
Mr. Israfil, who has long wanted to start his own company, hopes the concept of Stop Hatin' will wear well.
“I'd hopefully like to develop a complete line of Stop Hatin' active-wear,” he said.
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