LEELOODLES

At 11 years of age, Leeloo Tronleon is the youngest artisan to participate in the One of a Kind Show. Leeloo is the designer behind Leeloodles, a line of T-shirts created from her drawings inspired by sports teams, manga and anime characters, and pop culture. She started her designs by accident when she was just seven years old.

“I made a shirt for my dad at Christmas and then, right after that, people were asking for the shirt. It just kept on snowballing, and eventually a whole bunch of people wanted shirts.”

Her most popular shirt at the moment is a Raptors T-shirt, which, she says, quickly became her bestseller after the Toronto Raptors’ big win.

Her T-shirts are stocked at The Drake General Store in Toronto and sold online through Leeloodles.com. She donates half of her profits to charity.

“I like that I get to draw, meet lots of people and hear their stories,” says Tronleon, who also sells her shirts at community events. “They motivate me to keep on doing what I’m doing.”

Tronleon draws her designs on paper and then her mom, Diana Tran — who calls herself the “momager,” handling all the back-end of the business details — scans the design and sends it to a production team in Toronto to print on the T-shirts.

“Everyone is involved. Leeloo’s three-year-old sister, Kaneda, sees us tagging T-shirts in the living room and she wants to be part of it too,” says Tran.

When she first started selling T-shirts, Tronleon used some of the money she earned to “adopt” a polar bear at the Toronto Zoo. She continues to support local charities.

“Once I save enough, I keep half and give half to the charity I want to donate to, such as the LGBT Youth Line and Nova’s Ark, which provides animal therapy to children,” she says.

Tronleon, who loves to swim in her free time, is saving up for school too. “I want to be an artist or a lifeguard.”

Her collection at the One of a Kind Show will include T-shirts, sweaters, tank tops, tote bags and prints, starting at $35.