TU Student Repurposes 2nd Hand Clothing While Giving Back

A Sophomore at The University of Tulsa is creating a clothing line.

He makes each new piece out of secondhand clothing and a percentage of each sale goes straight to charity.

"I knew I wanted to rework clothes- so I wanted to print on stuff that is already made," said Ray Matsumoto, creator of Ephemeral, "A lot of people who start clothing companies, they just buy a lot of blank t-shirts in bulk, but I feel like it is cooler to own a shirt that is reworked because it has a story behind it."

Each piece is completely unique; he has made vests out of old jeans and sweatshirts of old university t-shirts.

This company started because Ray realized he could make his own clothes that he loved and felt great in, and he could eliminate unnecessary waste in the process. He started watching sewing videos online, his friends started giving him clothes they didn't want anymore, and Ray started transforming each one of them.

"When you wear something, you like you just like feel good....I like that feeling and I want to give other people that feeling too," said Ray. 

Ray says 5% of every sale is donated to a charity.

He says he knows his business is new and he should probably be saving every penny, but it was more important to him to make sure he was giving back.

"I don't really care about making money I just want to send people cool clothes," said Ray. 

The best way to check out Ray's brand Ephemeral is through Instagram: Here.