More than one in five Canadians suffer from a mental illness.
This is why 100 Mile House resident Connor Edle and his mother, Kari Edle, created the One in Five clothing brand to spread awareness about the issue.
The clothing line features hats, shirts, sweaters, and tank tops and with every item sold, $1 goes toward the Canadian Mental Health Association.
After having struggled with depression for several years, Connor says he wanted to make a symbol that could help open up the conversation about the issue.
“Everyone’s situation will be different. One day, I just told myself that I needed to talk about this with someone.”
The idea of having a clothing line talking about mental health came to Connor after seeing other clothes that have inspirational or important messages on them.
“I’ve seen clothing lines out there that support other types of problems, so I thought it would help make the subject more OK to talk about it.”
“There are some people who have issues talking about it. I feel they want to, but they think no one wants to listen; but people do want to listen and that’s what I want to spread.”
Due to the difficulties the family suffered trying to diagnose Connor’s condition, Kari says she feels the clothing line is a perfect way to break new ground.
“It was a tough time and trying to get help for [Connor] was hard. It affects everyone in the family.”
“It’s humbling that people are talking about this. It’s a thing that happens in your life but it doesn’t define you.”
Retired Child and Youth Mental Health Clinician Debbie Hancock had several sessions with Connor several years ago and says she is happy to see what he has done to combat his depression.
“Anything to de-stigmatize and open up the conversation is good. Obviously, this is helping him as well as this is something he can focus on and feel good about with helping other people.”
The graphic designs for the clothing line were created by former 100 Mile House resident graphic designer Kara Olsen who now resides on Vancouver Island.
The designs were then sent to Valley Screen Printing in Kelowna.
Kari says the relationship with the company has been very beneficial.
“We shopped around to different places in town and around the area to see what would work best budget wise. [Valley Screen Printing] has been so good to us.”
After an interview on Global News about the clothing line, the brand has gotten even more traction.
“After the interview, the online store exploded,” says Kari.
“We have some stores on [Vancouver Island] asking us if they can sell it there.”
While the brand is expanding, Kari is still adamant about thanking the people of 100 Mile House for their support.
“The Outlaw has been selling the shirts and they have been so supportive and helpful. They helped us out when we didn’t know what we were doing.
The Outlaw is currently the only store in 100 Mile House that sells the brand, and 70 Mile General Store will soon be selling it, too.
For now, Connor says he simply wants to continue to spread the message.
“I just want to try and expand the brand, maybe update the design of the logo and eventually put more money towards the mental health.”
“The main thing is to raise money for mental health and break the stigma of it.”
