Aéropostale, Inc., a mall-based specialty retailer of casual apparel for young women and men, and DoSomething.org, the largest not-for-profit in the U.S. for teens and social change, today announced the seventh annual “Teens for Jeans” campaign.
The campaign encourages young people to donate their gently used denim to help teens in need. Approximately one in three homeless people in the U.S. is under the age of 18 and one of the most requested items that young people in homeless shelters ask for is a pair of jeans.
Today through February 16, 2014 teens can participate by bringing gently worn jeans, any size and brand, to any Aéropostale or P.S. from Aéropostale store in the U.S., Puerto Rico, Canada, or Mexico. All donations will be distributed to local homeless shelters and charities. As a thank you for each pair donated, Aéropostale will give an additional 25% off a new pair of jeans, though no purchase is necessary.
“The Teens for Jeans campaign continues to build momentum,” says Scott Birnbaum, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Ecommerce at Aeropostale. “In 6 years we have collected and donated over 3.5 million pairs of jeans, and Aeropostale remains committed to making a difference for teens in need.”
“We are so excited to be working with Aéropostale to kick off the seventh year of Teens for Jeans! Aéropostale is a great partner; they provide an accessible jean drop-off location for young people across the country at a place they already are — the mall,” says Aria Finger, Chief Operating Officer at DoSomething.org. “It’s awesome to be able to work toward our goal with such a fantastic partner, such a dedicated shelter network, and such enthusiastic young people.”
As the face of the campaign, Aéropostale and DoSomething.org have joined forces with X Factor finalists and America’s only teen pop female vocal group Fifth Harmony. The quintet recorded a public service announcement urging teens to sign up to run a jeans drive in their school. Fifth Harmony joins a long line of celebrity supporters for the Teens for Jeans campaign including X Factor judge Demi Lovato. In years past, Teens for Jeans has been supported by other awesome celebrities including Bella Thorne, Chloë Grace Moretz, Kristen Bell, Rachel Bilson, Hayden Christensen, Chace Crawford, Julianne Hough, Justin Long, Matt Lanter, and Jessica Lowndes.
“We are so excited to be working with DoSomething.org and Aéropostale for this year’s Teens for Jeans campaign. This is such an awesome opportunity to activate #Harmonizers to make a huge impact in the lives of homeless teens,” said Ally Hernandez of Fifth Harmony.
In addition to store drop-offs, Aéropostale and DoSomething.org are encouraging young people to take action by running collection drives at their school. The school that collects the most jeans wins a grand prize grant for $10,000!
For more information, please visit www.teensforjeans.com or text ‘JEANS’ to 38383. The Fifth Harmony PSA can be seen here.
