Pencil Wear is here to help children thrive by empowering a culture of empathy. By donating 80% of proceeds from our clothes to reputable children's charities, your love of designer graphic clothing is translated into a force for good. You can wear our printed graphic tees and more with pride and always remember the good you can to bring into the world through your choices, as well as inspire others to help the children too.

How did Pencil Wear begin?

Davod Shah, our founder, began Pencil Wear when an idea popped into his head during a turbulent exam season at medical school. 

"During exam season, impulse buying graphic T-shirts on social media became a helpful coping mechanism in between the hustle of studies. I began to notice I had an interest in the art of Basquiat, perfectly encapsulating a childlike view of colour and form in his artwork of superheroes. This made me reflect on the art output of my child self and I began to print some of them on blank T-shirts.

Jean-Michel Basquiat's artwork depicting Superman.

 

"It unlocked a core memory of one of my own drawings (which is unsurprisingly less sophisticated).

 

"With my interest in encouraging charitable giving in a way that is less forgettable than buying a cookie at a charity bake sale, I thought to provide similar designs to people who want to have their fashion shopping do good. 

"When I have previously donated to charities helping children, what kept me invested is the personal nature of it. Once during university I was clearing my direct debits and made the decision to remove a regular donation to Human Appeal's orphan sponsorship programme. However, their commission of an annual orphan report detailing the orphan's wellbeing as well as including a wonderful piece of artwork of flowers, trees and happy faces meant I did not forget the good I was doing. I then reinitiated my sponsorship, making sure to sponsor the same orphan.

Davod presenting to the King's College Cambridge Entrepreneurship Lab, which was integral to beginning Pencil Wear.

"With Kids Care Wear, I want to encourage the same passionate generosity rather than a reluctant one. It's therefore important to me that you, our customer, receives fashionable T-shirts that make you proud to donate and encourage conversations with others about how they can do the same. I hope you enjoy our T-shirts and most importantly, I hope you enjoy helping the children."

 

Where does your money go? 

All proceeds are donated to charity, with the base cost and shipping covered by your purchase. Each T-shirt is linked to a different charity stated on its page. We make sure to donate to reputable UK-based and international charities dedicated to helping children, such as UNICEF, GOSH children's charity and Save the Children. We take no profit, we save it all for the children.

 

Where did the logo and name come from?

Davod's kind friend, Soham, is a very creative artist that came up with the name 'Pencil Wear' and logo. Pencils are one of the main ways children express themselves and we wanted to emphasise this in our brand. The cape represents the hero within us all when we choose to help others, be that through our fashion choices or more.

Who helped start Pencil Wear?

Davod is forever grateful to the King's College Cambridge Entrepreneurship Lab for incubating his idea. He also thanks Fred Rogers, who inspires him to help and support children.