New Haven Register (Sunday) (New Haven, CT)
Darien teen determined to ‘make change,’ one vegan wallet at a time
DARIEN — A 16-yearold is making a difference in his community one wallet at a time.
Darien resident Bobby Callagy said he launched his brand Make Change, designing wallets, stickers and patches, so young people can express themselves and support the social and political causes they care about.
The wallets are made from vegan cactus leather and feature hand-stitched patches made in New York City. A percentage of the proceeds from their sale go toward the causes customers want to support, including Greenpeace, Black Lives Matter and the Trevor Project.
Callagy, who attends the Masters School in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., said he’d always had an “entrepreneurial spirit” but was particularly inspired during the pandemic when he stumbled across old wallet designs he had sketched in middle school.
In addition to his business aspirations, the high school junior said he wanted to create a more socially oriented brand that encourages self-expression, inspired by his own personal journey after coming out when he was 11 years old.
“I think that was difficult for me just because I grew up in a Christian community in Darien,” Callagy said. “Not to say that it isn’t accepting, but it can be hard sometimes when you’re surrounded by all the kind of same people, to be different in that way.”
“I’m really incredibly proud of Bobby,” his mother, Andrea Callagy, said. “He had some pretty significant challenges early on both being part of the LGBTQ community and then also having challenges with his mental health and so we really tried to turn something that was a pretty significant struggle in his life into something positive.”
Having previously worked in merchandising for Ralph Lauren, Andrea Callaghy helped her son establish contacts with manufacturers and designers, she said.
While Bobby Callagy is the main owner and founder, Andrea Callagy said she acts as Make Change’s Chief Operating Officer, helping with business operations given her son’s busy school schedule.
Bobby Callagy said he was grateful to have his mother’s support in this first year of business, keeping him on task and offering her expertise on the fashion industry from finances to networking.
“It’s been really amazing having her as a person to bounce ideas off of because she’s obviously able to kind of tell me what sounds like a pretty rational idea and what maybe sounds like something that we can work on to better improve,” he said.
Make Change most recently collaborated with New York City-based artist Kristin Simmons to support mental health awareness. Simmons, whose art uses pop iconography to explore subjects like capitalism and consumption, said she was grateful to collaborate with Bobby Callagy and learn more about the issues that are affecting younger generations.
“I wouldn’t typically have a connection to work with someone from Bobby’s generation in my dayto-day running of this business, and I like that they’re so aware of these social issues,” Simmons said. “When you meet people who are really passionate about what they do, it makes you smile and gives you hope. So I’ve really, really enjoyed working with him.”
In his first year of business, Bobby Callagy estimated his wallets have raised more than $1,500 for various causes; he’s sold more than 200 wallets between various pop-ups in local businesses and online sales he said.
In starting Make Change, he said, it was inspiring to see the realworld effects of combining his business aspirations with politics, two things he is interested in pursuing as he begins preparing for college.
“I don’t want to just be a for-profit business, but I want to see something like Make Change (thrive) where you’re building a business around supporting other people and uplifting them,” he said.
While the business is still young and very much a work in progress, Bobby Callagy said it has been worth it to support the causes he feels so passionately about.
While he currently sells wallets as well as separate patches and stickers, he said he hopes to expand Make Change into other kinds of apparel such as jeans, hats or hoodies, offering customers a broader range of wearable options for self-expression and activism.
“It’s been really, really rewarding to see a lot of people coming to me, and explaining how much this means to them, that this is kind of their outlet currently to express themselves,” he said. “Through being an entrepreneur and being a business owner, it’s definitely opened my eyes to how arduous the journey can be but also how rewarding things can be.