DEMO: The Launchpad for Emerging Technology

John Studer, CFO of No Sweat Apparel, the Boston-based fair trade pioneer that produces clothing and sneakers at sweatshop-free union factories in the United States, Canada and the developing world,has been named March's ideablob.com monthly contest winner for the best small business idea, as voted on by the ideablob (DEMOfall 07) community. Studer's winning idea is for the company to continue producing their newest line of organic cotton knit t-shirts at a Palestinian-owned factory on Virgin Mary Street in Bethlehem. To date, No Sweat has sold about 50,000 of these Palestinian-made t-shirts in the United States, England, and Israel. Studer is the second Advanta Business Cards customer to win the monthly ideablob contest. As a result, he is eligible to receive 1,000,000 rewards points on his Advanta BusinessCard (or the $10,000 cash alternative) in addition to the $10,000 monthly contest prize. Advanta presented Studer, who chose the cash alternative, with his $20,000 award during a ceremony at the No Sweat Apparel office in Boston. "We've found a rare piece of common ground for all in t-shirts,"explains No Sweat CEO Adam Neiman. "While not a substitute for diplomatic settlement, more good jobs for Palestinians on the West Bank will definitely help. In the meantime, we've created a mechanism for ordinary citizens to build goodwill on the ground and support the peace to come." No Sweat is marketing these t-shirts wholesale (custom printed) to Jewish, Muslim, Christian and secular schools and camps in the United States, Canada and Israel. According to Studer and Neiman, the project has the active support of the Palestinian and Israeli foreign ministries, and has drawn rave reviews in Muslim and Jewish media outlets. However, they claim that finding adequate resources has been a huge challenge.