Bresheh is ‘Purposeful in Pink’
Proceeds from collection to fund 100 mammograms for women in St Thomas
Published:Sunday | October 22, 2023 | 12:06 AMShanel Lemmie - Staff Reporter
Over the years, the brand Bresheh has created an identity that is synonymous with corporate class and purpose-driven style through their now iconic line of vegan leather bags. Continuing their mission with a community driven outreach this October, the brand upped the ante with the launch of their ‘Purposeful in Pink’ campaign.
Catching up with The Sunday Gleaner, Bresheh CEO and co-founder Randy Makk said that this initiative is the culmination of more than a year’s worth of work, prompted by fans of the brand and ambassadors.
“We’ve been working on this pink for about a year now and we challenged ourselves to not only just put out some pink products, but to keep true to who we are and to ensure that there was a strong purpose impacting element behind it. So, we would have realised that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and it’s a very critical issue. We thought this could be our solution in terms of what [impactful] messaging we want to carry with the launch of this pink collection,” Makk said.
He continued, “The charitable part of what we’re doing is as a result of the support of our clients and people who purchase these pink products. We have committed to funding the cost of 100 mammograms. So the idea is at least, and I say at least because it would be nice to eventually be funding more, but 100 women and we’re targeting St Thomas. [One hundred women] would be able to have the cost to get mammograms done covered by us. So that’s what we’re committing to for this campaign.”
Partnering with the Jamaica Cancer Society’s support arm, Jamaica Reach to Recovery, Makk said the products were initially supposed to be available for a limited time.
“Our intention was to have a limited edition to begin with, but based on the support so far and the encouragement so far, it’s looking like something that we’ll have to continue post October. The challenge will be now to see how that lives after October. We’re also hoping that we can keep the messaging alive, not just only in October because breast cancer doesn’t affect our women only in October. We’d love to see how creatively we can keep that message alive.”
Championing the need for the support of the women, president of the non-profit Sandra Samuels told The Sunday Gleaner, “Access to mammography is a problem.”
She went on, “Help is what we need. Not only financial help, but help [with] promoting [and] getting the word out there, pursuing personal interests in helping/teaching women to survive.”
Expressing her excitement for the collaboration she said, “Truth is a lot of persons are into fashion and pink is a brand by it self. We’re hoping that they aren’t just going for the fashion, but they’re going for the cause. But anyway you take it its a win-win situation. When someone purchases a bag it means we’re going to be able to get someone a mammogram, so that can be life-saving.”
Though this new line of bags launched less than a week ago, Makk said they have almost exhausted their supply.
“It is very difficult to try and put it into words, but just know that it’s a surreal feeling. On the inside as a CEO, as a co-founder, as a member of the team, it’s pride because it’s brand Jamaica and we’re so grateful.”
Looking back at their inception, Makk said they began hoping to just create a brand with a global appeal that Jamaicans can be proud of. Now being able to improve how they serve the community, Makk explained, “To be getting the support that we are now getting and to be synonymous with corporate identity as it relates to Roast in particular, it’s just such an amazing feeling. We set out with this deliberate mission and to see it happening in real time is just wow. We are just grateful.”