Many high school students have dreams to improve the world, but Jaxon Potts and Thomas Pepper are actively taking steps to do just that.

The two students from AMES—The Academy For Math, Engineering and Science—are working this summer on sustainable fashionable clothing that won’t have a harmful impact on the environment. In addition, a percentage of their sales will be donated to mental health organizations.

“We all have life goals,” Potts said. “I feel trying to save the planet is a goal that’s bigger than myself. I want to make an impact on the world and taking action, changing the world is impactful for me. That’s why it’s a core value of what I really want to do with this business.”

Their business, Hopewear, sells sustainable, eco-friendly clothing that promotes mental health through positive messages on their clothing.

“Over this summer, I’m going to work a part-time job and all my time outside of my job is going to be toward prototyping, marketing, scaling, getting an inventory and reaching out to the community that will buy my product. We’re going to market mostly through social media, but we also want to do small shops near high schools and colleges because our demographic is younger—teenagers and young adults,” Potts said. 

The teenagers recently competed in the High School Utah Entrepreneur Challenge, where more than 150 teams or individuals entered the competition. Each high school team faced the challenge of identifying a problem and proposing a creative solution. 

The AMES pair was named one of the top 20 teams. As finalists, they received $1,000 apiece for the University of Utah’s Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute, a nationally ranked hub for student entrepreneurship and innovation, which is a division of the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah. The contest was sponsored by Zions Bank.

Their submission states: “Daily waste of clothing equates to filling one-and-a-half Empire State Buildings, which is why Hopewear upcycles deadstock and recycled textiles for their garments. Mental health is a core value, highlighting their positive designs; 10% of every purchase pays for mental health treatment. These actions combat fast fashion and mental health concerns, providing real-time assistance.”

When searching for an idea, Potts said it didn’t take too long.

“We had a lot of ideas, then we started to talk about what we value and what we’re passionate about. I am passionate about clothing and fashion and how I really care about the planet and the sustainability of our world. Thomas really cares about mental health. He lost a loved one and he’s been through this journey and talks about how it’s affected him and the people around him. So, we had these ideas and slowly we started connecting them to this and the desire of wanting to work on something bigger than me,” he said. “Plus, we can donate a percentage of our profits to mental health organizations in Utah and make this a core value. If we could help one person, that would mean the world to us."

Potts said through his research, he has learned his passions collide. 

“I love the planet and the fashion industry, but the industry is one of the worst, contributing a lot of pollution, especially chemicals. So, this is a stain on them,” he said. “We decided to take a stand and help change. We want to combine Utah’s love and passion for the planet in what they wear because they do care, and work to change this unethical industry because it doesn’t have to be this way. Nobody wants to actively ruin or harm the planet. The difference is I have the skills, knowledge and the initiative to take a hold of this issue. When we see issues on the internet, we’re like, ‘Dang, that sucks.’ Then most of us move on with our lives. I am passionate enough that I will take the initiative, and I’ll stick with my word.”

Potts already has taught himself how to sew, making several prototypes with his own design, which were displayed at the entrepreneur challenge. 

“I source most of my clothing from local Utah shops that use 100% local organic cotton, which is sustainable, and hemp, which is soft. The threads I get are from recycled beds from recycling plants. I’m working with Salt Lake County recycling plants trying to source a lot of these fabrics. It’s a win-win because people don’t care about these fabrics so they go to landfills and if I can redirect them to upcycle, they’re inexpensive to me and the consumer—and they kind of get clothes out of the landfills, which is what we want,” he said.

With Pepper, they’re working on the business plan, which includes both five-year and 10-year plans. 

“I’m good with numbers and he’s good with marketing. I’ve been mostly working on long-term because right now, we don’t have a lot of funding as a startup,” Potts said. “What we want to do is twofold—have a scalable mass product, which we would probably work with a co-manufacturer. These clothes would be simpler still using these recycled and sustainable fabrics, so maybe jeans could be $60 to $70, and shirts can be $40 to $50. We also want to have one-on-one collections where it has a personal touch, like one of its kind, but it still will be upcycled and those will depend on how much time and the cost of the product.”

After presenting to the judges, the teens got feedback.

“They told us they liked our product, but our prices were way too low; it wasn’t realistic for the scalability. That helped us with our plan for pricing and scaling our production of clothes,” Potts said.

That’s different feedback from last year when Potts, Pepper and two other classmates were finalists with their app, Rift, which is a solution for teen social-media addiction. Their product was designed to encourage teenagers to put down their phones and devices through a gamifying experience.

 “The idea was that you get points toward a common goal by not using your phone, so the longer you don’t use your phone the more points you get then this becomes the incentive to not use your phone. The problem with it is the financial model, getting funding and revenue was difficult with that idea so it kind of fizzled out,” Potts said.

It was AMES 11th-grade English teacher Kelly Glassett who introduced the teens to the high school challenge.

“It spawned this love for entrepreneurship I’ve had a long time, but I never knew I could be that big boss, the person behind the idea,” said Potts, who plans to study finance and entrepreneurship at the U of U this fall. “I’m grateful becoming a finalist two times in a row. It’s a fun competition. It really gets you moving on your ideas, thinking them through financially, ethically, practically and meeting a lot of people. I did a lot of networking and talked to a lot of people who I’ll probably work with. I was able to take an idea I’ve had for a long time, a little kid dream, and start my own brand.”