{"id":29812,"date":"2017-01-17T10:00:19","date_gmt":"2017-01-17T15:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/?p=29812"},"modified":"2021-04-23T17:06:51","modified_gmt":"2021-04-23T21:06:51","slug":"orange-black-inspired-luxury-tshirt-company","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/orange-black-inspired-luxury-tshirt-company\/","title":{"rendered":"How \u2018Orange is the New Black\u2019 Inspired This Luxury T-Shirt Company"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s Note: This is part of our Good on the Ground series<\/a>, profiling entrepreneurial women who are addressing social issues in innovative and inspiring ways.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Fif Ghobadian, a San Francisco entrepreneur, wants you to understand this: Life can go from good to bad, very quickly.<\/p>\n

Born in Iran, she enjoyed a comfortable, affluent lifestyle until the eve of the Iranian Revolution, which led to the brutal death of her parents\u2019 friends. Then a teenager, she fled with her family to London, finally landing in Northern California in 1979. \u201cThe concept of all of a sudden not having money was shocking,\u201d she recalls. Her father, unfamiliar with the language and American culture, couldn\u2019t find work. \u201cThere\u2019s not a single door that opens.\u201d
\n

<\/div>

Second Chances<\/h2>

Listen to our podcast episode for more of our interview with Fif Ghobadian.<\/h3>

In 2013, Ghobadian came up with the idea for Road Twenty-Two<\/a>, a luxury T-shirt brand (think $76 for a classic crew) that would hire women who had served time in prison to box, trim and package its products. The name comes from the highway out of the Central California Women\u2019s Facility in Chowchilla, Calif., the largest female prison in the U.S.<\/p>\n

While her background is in finance, Ghobadian had worked early in her career for a number of big retailers, including Levi\u2019s and the Gap. \u201cI always thought it\u2019d be great to create clothes that… can make you look edgy and fun,\u201d she says. \u201cI married the two ideas\u201d — producing fashion and helping formerly incarcerated women — and sought a business partner. A friend suggested she contact Alice Larkin Cahan, a San Francisco socialite with a design background.<\/p>\n

Together, the two launched Road Twenty-Two\u00a0as a for-profit social enterprise in 2014. \u201cWe jumped into it,\u201d Ghobadian says. They found a warehouse space, a sewing factory and poured resources into marketing and branding. Ghobadian, a single mom, sold an investment property that had been earmarked for her teenage children\u2019s education, putting $300,000 into the business while Cahan added $100,000. Friends and family contributed another $80,000.<\/p>\n

Working With Women<\/b><\/p>\n

Next came hiring former female prisoners — simultaneously the toughest but most rewarding part of running Road Twenty-Two, Ghobadian says. It\u2019s no secret that few companies employ people with criminal records, a big reason why recidivism rates are so high. (More than half of state prisoners wind up back in prison within 5 years of release, according to Bureau of Justice Statistics.)<\/p>\n

The formerly incarcerated are sometimes homeless, and many struggle with addiction problems. \u201cIt\u2019s a tricky population to work with,\u201d Ghobadian says. \u201cThere are a lot of self-esteem issues. Just the idea of them showing up for work is in and of itself a challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n

To date, Road Twenty-Two has hired eight formerly incarcerated women. All have to be willing to earn minimum-wage pay. \u201cSometimes, in the world of crime, it\u2019s much more enticing to make more money,\u201d Ghobadian says. The women must also have the confidence to work for a startup, \u201cwhere you do all sorts of different things and there\u2019s a lack of consistency,\u201d she says. It\u2019s more typical for people returning to society from prison to take jobs in predictable fields like, say, construction — if they can get work at all.<\/p>\n

One woman whom Road Twenty-Two\u00a0has helped is Rachael Dunne, who manages the company\u2019s customer care. In a video on the company\u2019s site, she talks about the difficulty finding a job after getting hooked on drugs and landing in the county jail. Background checks would sink her chances. \u201cI\u2019d always have great interviews and never get that call back,\u201d Dunne says. By contrast, Ghobadian and Cahan were \u201cwarm and welcoming.\u201d While they asked tough questions about her criminal background, \u201cthey were interested in how those skills might be transferrable,\u201d Dunne says.<\/p>\n

Ghobadian says she\u2019s been struck by Dunne\u2019s improved self-esteem since joining Road Twenty-Two. \u201cShe is driven, more focused. She\u2019s being held accountable, so she\u2019s not going down a bad path,\u201d Ghobadian says. \u201cShe can stand up with her head high and say \u2018I matter.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Dunne agrees: \u201cI am doing things I never thought I was good at doing and doing them well.\u201d<\/p>\n

More to Come<\/b><\/p>\n

Looking ahead, Ghobadian says she hopes to hire more former female prisoners as soon as Road Twenty-Two expands. Finding the women has been surprisingly difficult, she says. While she had originally hoped to work with prisons on funnelling parolees over to Road Twenty-Two, \u201cthe bureaucracy\u2019s insane,\u201d she says. Instead, the company has worked with agencies like America Works<\/a> and Glide<\/a>, which help ex-prisoners get jobs.<\/p>\n

Growth is coming slowly, although Road Twenty-Two is now sold in about 200 stores and broke even last year. This year, Ghobadian and Cahan plan to devote more resources to social media and hire commission-based sales representatives, which they hope will push Road Twenty-Two to $1 million in revenue by year\u2019s end. They recently expanded their product offerings to include sweatpants, and are creating a lower-priced custom line for corporate marketing events. \u201cThe more money we make, the more people we can hire,\u201d Ghobadian says.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Ghobadian still works as a mortgage broker — a job she hopes to quit once Road Twenty-Two truly takes off. Juggling both roles is \u201cpretty fast-paced,\u201d she admits. But it\u2019s worth it to build a startup that gives women a second chance.<\/p>\n

She is still haunted by the memory of her father, who declared bankruptcy while she was in college. He eventually returned to Iran, and died this past September. \u00a0\u201cI vividly remember him looking in the paper, circling phone numbers, calling for those jobs,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd I think that is actually what planted the seed of what money can do for you in your life, and what privileges it gives you.\u201d<\/p>\n

More from “Good on the Ground”: Meet the Women Who Teach Financial Skills to the Homeless<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\r\n
\r\n\t\tRead Full Transcript<\/i><\/span><\/a>\r\n\t\t
\r\n\t\t\t

Fif Ghobadian \u2013 CEO + Co-Founder \u2013 Road 22<\/p>\n

FIF:\tThere are a lot of socially responsible companies, however there aren\u2019t
\nthat many, that focus on the formerly incarcerated.<\/p>\n

SOT:\tThat burgundy looks pretty bloody good on you.
\n-I know, thank you. I\u2019ve been asking Sheri can I have one. I\u2019m going to represent Road 22.
\n-You already represent Road 22.<\/p>\n

FIF:\tRoad 22 is a fashion brand with a social mission to employ women who\u2019ve been formerly incarcerated. We came up with the name Road 22 because it\u2019s the road out of Chowchilla Prison, and it\u2019s the road out of that system.<\/p>\n

TEXT:\tFif Ghobadian \u2013 CEO and Co-Founder \u2013 Road 22, San Francisco, CA USA<\/p>\n

FIF:\tThere are 2.4 million incarcerated in the U.S. 70% of the people who get incarcerated end up back in the system. When doors are shut and life gives you a bad card how do you undo that? How do you reverse the hands of fate and go back on track?<\/p>\n

TEXT:\tFif was born in Iran. Her parents fled the 1979 revolution.<\/p>\n

FIF:\tWe grew up really affluent in Iran so it was a pretty comfortable life and then the reality hit that assets were frozen in Iran. My dad couldn\u2019t go back and my parents had to claim bankruptcy.<\/p>\n

TEXT: Fif and her family moved to the U.S. and settled north of San Francisco.<\/p>\n

TEXT:\tHer mother and father struggled to support the family.<\/p>\n

FIF:\tI\u2019ve seen in my life what life is like when you have everything plus more. And then at a very young age I saw the extreme opposite.<\/p>\n

TEXT:\tHer mother sold her wedding ring so Fif could attend Claremont McKenna College.<\/p>\n

TEXT:\tIn 1984 she graduated in Economics and Accounting and began a career in corporate finance.<\/p>\n

FIF:\tI worked for Levis, I worked for the Gap and then went through the whole corporate world in accounting. When I was about 32, 33 I decided, \u201cYou know what, I really wanna have kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

TEXT: To have the flexibility to be a single mother, Fif changed careers and went into the mortgage industry.<\/p>\n

TEXT:\tAs her children grew, she got restless.<\/p>\n

FIF:\tI was reading Orange Is The New Black. This woman goes to jail after ten years for something really minor, and what scared me is that once you cross that line and you\u2019re incarcerated it\u2019s almost impossible to come back into society.<\/p>\n

FIF:\tAnd I thought, \u201cYou know what, I wanna kind of do something to make, that makes a difference.\u201d I always thought it\u2019d be great to create clothes that competes with like the Gap but it\u2019s cool, like T-shirts, sweatshirts that really felt good, that look good, and then I married the two ideas.<\/p>\n

TEXT:\tIn 2013 Fif asked her friend, and now domestic partner, Alice Larkin Cahan to design the shirts.<\/p>\n

FIF: We had never ever thought about how to even make a shirt, didn\u2019t know anything about it. And so, you know, we went, interviewed people. It took us 6 months to create our first shirt. And we launched the company within a year of the idea.<\/p>\n

TEXT:\tFif sold an investment property to fund Road 22. The shirts are sewn in a factory in downtown San Francisco. Fif hires women returning from prison to trim, fold and package the shirts.<\/p>\n

FIF:\tThe number one issue we battle with is self-esteem. They feel like they\u2019re not worth anything so trust is a huge factor. They have had no concept of working, and it\u2019s difficult for the people to come and work for 13 bucks an hour because guess what? They make more money if they\u2019re hustling in the streets.<\/p>\n

TEXT:\tRoad 22 has hired 8 formerly incarcerated women to date. The shirts retail for $65 to $85 online and in dozens of stores nationwide.<\/p>\n

FIF:\tOne reason the shirts are higher priced is because it\u2019s to bring awareness to a segment of the population that can make a difference. If you take it to someone who normally buys a designer shirt for like $115 and now you bring this message across maybe eventually people will realize this is a problem.<\/p>\n

TEXT:\tTo reach more people and provide more support to her staff, Fif is expanding the product line.<\/p>\n

FIF:\tWe wanna have the fashion brand continue and we want to create a lower-priced line, a little less detail in the shirts that we can use for corporate marketing, corporate branding because that\u2019s more volume generated, a higher revenue stream.<\/p>\n

TEXT:\tFif still works as a mortgage broker.<\/p>\n

FIF:\tIt\u2019s tough, definitely tough. The goal is that Road 22 will grow to the point where I don\u2019t have to be a mortgage broker and work on Road 22.<\/p>\n

SOT:\tAll she need is a social worker or case manager.<\/p>\n

-And that still takes six month to a year?<\/p>\n

-It, it might take less than that because she\u2019s homeless. It depends on her
\nsituation.<\/p>\n

FIF:\tI love seeing people wear the clothes. That\u2019s fantastic. But the most gratifying is the change in the women\u2019s lives. You know, just even if we change four people\u2019s lives, right, that\u2019s a big change.<\/p>\n<\/p>\r\n\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\r\n\t<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At Road Twenty-Two, founded by Iranian immigrant Fif Ghobadian in San Francisco, women who served time in prison get a second chance. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":29822,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":false,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[187,218,3],"tags":[19443,19452,144,19450,20390,19839,19687,19454],"class_list":["post-29812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-good-on-the-ground","category-entrepreneur-videos","tag-apparel-accessories","tag-social-entrepreneurs","tag-fashion","tag-immigrants","tag-rehabilitation-and-employment","tag-social-enterprise","tag-women-entrepreneurship","tag-women-of-color"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHow \u2018Orange is the New Black\u2019 Inspired This Luxury T-Shirt Company<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/orange-black-inspired-luxury-tshirt-company\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How \u2018Orange is the New Black\u2019 Inspired This Luxury T-Shirt Company\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"At Road Twenty-Two, founded by Iranian immigrant Fif Ghobadian in San Francisco, women who served time in prison get a second chance.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/orange-black-inspired-luxury-tshirt-company\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Story Exchange\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheStoryExchange\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-01-17T15:00:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-04-23T21:06:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/22232043\/Road-22_Feat_play.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"657\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Colleen DeBaise\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@TheStoryXchange\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@TheStoryXchange\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Colleen DeBaise\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How \u2018Orange is the New Black\u2019 Inspired This Luxury T-Shirt Company","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/orange-black-inspired-luxury-tshirt-company\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How \u2018Orange is the New Black\u2019 Inspired This Luxury T-Shirt Company","og_description":"At Road Twenty-Two, founded by Iranian immigrant Fif Ghobadian in San Francisco, women who served time in prison get a second chance.","og_url":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/orange-black-inspired-luxury-tshirt-company\/","og_site_name":"The Story Exchange","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheStoryExchange","article_published_time":"2017-01-17T15:00:19+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-04-23T21:06:51+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":657,"url":"https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/22232043\/Road-22_Feat_play.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Colleen DeBaise","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@TheStoryXchange","twitter_site":"@TheStoryXchange","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Colleen DeBaise","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/orange-black-inspired-luxury-tshirt-company\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/orange-black-inspired-luxury-tshirt-company\/"},"author":{"name":"Colleen DeBaise","@id":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/#\/schema\/person\/37ea4af04b473a35e85983067534a6b6"},"headline":"How \u2018Orange is the New Black\u2019 Inspired This Luxury T-Shirt Company","datePublished":"2017-01-17T15:00:19+00:00","dateModified":"2021-04-23T21:06:51+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/orange-black-inspired-luxury-tshirt-company\/"},"wordCount":1104,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/orange-black-inspired-luxury-tshirt-company\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/22232043\/Road-22_Feat_play.jpg","keywords":["1000 Apparel & Accessories","1000 Social Enterprise","Fashion & Beauty","Immigrants","Rehabilitation and Employment","Social Enterprise","Women Entrepreneurship","Women of Color"],"articleSection":["Features","Good on the Ground","Video Profiles of Inspiring Women Entrepreneurs"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/orange-black-inspired-luxury-tshirt-company\/","url":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/orange-black-inspired-luxury-tshirt-company\/","name":"How \u2018Orange is the New Black\u2019 Inspired This Luxury T-Shirt Company","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/orange-black-inspired-luxury-tshirt-company\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/orange-black-inspired-luxury-tshirt-company\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/22232043\/Road-22_Feat_play.jpg","datePublished":"2017-01-17T15:00:19+00:00","dateModified":"2021-04-23T21:06:51+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/orange-black-inspired-luxury-tshirt-company\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/orange-black-inspired-luxury-tshirt-company\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/orange-black-inspired-luxury-tshirt-company\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/22232043\/Road-22_Feat_play.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/22232043\/Road-22_Feat_play.jpg","width":1000,"height":657,"caption":"Fif Ghobadian, founder of Road Twenty-Two"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/orange-black-inspired-luxury-tshirt-company\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How \u2018Orange is the New Black\u2019 Inspired This Luxury T-Shirt Company"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/","name":"The Story Exchange","description":"Inspiration and information for women entrepreneurs","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/#organization","name":"The Story Exchange","url":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/24161459\/TSE-logo-web-e1525383604615.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/24161459\/TSE-logo-web-e1525383604615.png","width":500,"height":180,"caption":"The Story Exchange"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheStoryExchange","https:\/\/x.com\/TheStoryXchange","https:\/\/instagram.com\/thestoryexchange\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/the-story-exchange","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/StoryExchange"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/#\/schema\/person\/37ea4af04b473a35e85983067534a6b6","name":"Colleen DeBaise","description":"Colleen DeBaise is former small business editor of the Wall Street Journal. Her most recent book is \u201cStart a Successful Business.\u201d She has also written about the rewards and challenges of entrepreneurship for Inc., Entrepreneur and BusinessWeek, among others. She has been interviewed on MSNBC, Fox, CNBC, CBS and NPR. Colleen has a master\u2019s in journalism from Northwestern University. Contact her at colleen@thestoryexchange.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/author\/colleen-debaise-at-the-story-exchange\/"],"url":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/author\/colleen-debaise-at-the-story-exchange\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29812"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29812\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41862,"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29812\/revisions\/41862"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}