Manchester girl raises money for Bangladesh flood relief by designing t-shirts

A primary school girl from Gorton in Manchester has raised £550 towards flood relief efforts in Bangladesh.

Six-year-old Priya Hoq designs and makes t-shirts along with her parents. The process for making the designs involves uploading the design on an app and print it out, followed by a selection process where she would remove the bits she does not want on the t-shirt. Her parents then heat press it on to the fabric, which the young girl peels off and folds it.

The cost of making each t-shirt is £3, but they are sold for £10, in order to be able to donate more money.

Priya’s first sale was to her teacher at Gorton Primary School, who ordered a few t-shirts for his nieces after he was told about the reason behind making the t-shirts. She also spoke about it in her school assembly and made more sales.

Priya’s mother Claire said, “At the end of term assembly, they played her video to parents. They were really supportive and Priya received many orders. Overall, she sold 49 T-shirts and raised £60 in donations over a six week period.

“She was coming home from school every day and would design T-shirts and used it as an excuse to stay up at night. She had a target of making three shirts a day. If the customer was local she would deliver it herself. She loved every minute and took pride in her work.

“The designs were based on what the customer wanted, some of them would have unicorns some would have a helicopter or Peppa Pig or anything they were into. We had a lot of designs with dinosaurs and rainbows.” Claire said.

“Now Priya wants to set up a charity because she wants to do more. She wants to start raising money for school uniforms, bags and books for poor children in Bangladesh. She’s not decided on future projects and whether she will carry on making T-shirts. We are still getting orders. Going forward, she has also thought about making and selling cups.”

She added, “Her younger brother Ismail was also involved. Now when he wakes up in the morning he ask for a new T-shirt. He designs his own T-shirts too.

“I am so proud of her, I have cried so many times as it all came from her mouth and they were made by her own hands. We didn’t tell her to do it she wanted to do it.” The money raised by Priya went to Bangladesh. 73 food parcels were distributed to families in the poorer areas in Sunamganj in Bangladesh. The young girl intends to raise more fund in the future for good causes.