05/17/2012
Dear Moral Fibers family,
Moral Fibers US and Canadian entities are dissolving.
We, Matthew Brightman and Martin Weiss, started working on Moral Fibers last February. This project was the hardest thing we've ever worked on. The most important thing we've ever done. And we had no idea what we were doing the entire time. Only through hard work, amazing mentorship, and dumb luck did we achieve our goals. Building Moral Fibers was one of the most challenging and fulfilling experiences of our lives. From the beginning we set out in dorm-rooms, then later coffee houses, and finally a very becoming office (thanks BeSleek!). We set out to learn about international development, but we discovered so much more.
Today marks the end of one chapter of Moral Fibers' story. Moral Fibers worked with 16 artists in Port-au-Prince. We learned the stories of these 16 artists, and their families, then accompanied them while they rebuilt their lives after the earthquake. This community is centered in a block called Bizoton, and built around the ideals of art and education. We believe, and taught the belief, that with devotion to art and education we could build better lives, stronger families, and healthier communities.
With an amazing network of people across the US, Canada, Israel, Germany, England, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti, we have worked to make this dream possible for this tight-knit group. People from all across the world were willing to give their time, money, contacts, and so much more. The list of people that deserve thanks is many hundreds long (trust me, I have the emails to prove it), but I'm going to thank a few who happen to come to mind. Our parents, who let us traipse the world, dealt with our hyper-stressed phonecalls, and supported our decision to take time off school to give this our best effort. The Dobson Cup judges, who gave us confidence that there were some experienced entrepreneurs out there who didn't think we were completely stupid. Helge Seetzen (CEO at TandemLaunch Technologies), Dominique Anglade (President of the KANPE foundation), Barbara Boosamra (CEO of Baranda), David Puterman (CEO of Crazycordz), Yona Shtern(CEO at BeyondTheRack), and Greg Vit (Professor of Management at McGill) all accepted the challenge of mentoring us and are owed an enormous debt of gratitude. There are so many people that were involved in so many different ways...the best I can do is list some of the major players: Alexandra Melancon, Alice Markowitz, Hans Pascal, Dominique Brown, Pierre Fregeau, Bernard James, Jake Bobrow, Sam McGuire, Dougan Khim, Kamran Draeger, Matt Trammell, Richard Morin, Julian Kershaw-weih, Sheliah Woodhouse, Morgan Weinberg, Marika Shaw, James Hugh Keenan Campbell, Will Yu, Sam Kottler. We would also like to thank our friends and significant others for standing by us, and understanding (or maybe just accepting?) the crazy s**t we put you through.
Without the aid and guidance of our parents, mentors, friends, and everyone who graced a couple ambitious college boys with their ear, this company would never have left our heads. We wouldn't have been motivated to spend months editing and researching our business plan to win the Dobson Cup. We wouldn't have had the balls to go to Port-au-Prince time and time again to experiment and try to change lives. We wouldn't have pushed ourselves so far to help 16 families rise from the disgrace and poverty of tent camps... to help them hope for something better.
We believed in building a sustainable clothing brand with a commitment to artists in developing countries. We thought that we could use art and education as tools to grow talent and build financial sustainability in the poorest communities in the world. We succeeded in changing the lives of 16 people in developing countries, and more than a few closer to home.
We never succeeded in making the endeavor scalable or sustainable. We know that we will be in close contact with those families, and Erick Frazier in particular, for a long time. We have learned a few things that we can offer them in day to day service. In the future Erick can rely on us for financial and operations management, business strategy, and a helping hand. It is incredible how far you can go on so little.
Dissolution is not the same as bankruptcy, and none of Moral Fibers bills will go unpaid. Our investors understood and accepted our plan for Moral Fibers. After paying our debts, we will give the leftover capital to Erick to build a motorcycle taxi service in Carrefour with our ex-artists. We have enough experience to know that business plans are in a constant state of flux, but we are looking forward to working with Erick to make this a successful business. All of our employees in Haiti will be encouraged to continue their education, and we are excited to participate in raising this new enterprise in Haiti.
Sincerely,
Martin Weiss & Matthew Brightman
