What do you think of my idea!

Im not trying to sell t-shirts here but i do want to know interest levels for my idea. tell me what you think! I was laying in bed last night and this just popped into my head. Call me paranoid but i dont want to post the name of the co. yet!LOL

Im working on starting my own company. I will sell logo apparel featuring ladybugs, butterflys, frogs, honey bees etc... the idea is to focus on beneficials and being beneficial. 25% or more of all proceeds will go to groups and organizations that are helping to preserve our natural places through out the country and to those who are working on alternative energy projects. I plan to have a website full of info and links that are of use to us as consumers.

All fabrics will be 100% organic cottons and hemps. I plan to offer t-shirts at first and then expand to offer, sweat shirts, mugs, hats, garden aprons, bandanas, travel mugs, posters, stickers, keychains, etc... Again 25% or more of all proceeds will go towards preservation of our natural land. All fabric apparel will be embroidered with the logo and then screen printed with a beneficial insect or animal.

I also want to include a annual scholarship that will be awarded to anyone who is studying biology or alternative energy fields. An essay contest probably.

To me, this is a way that i can do my part and have fun doing it. I am working on the t-shirt designs now. They are going to be so cute. I will probably start with mens and womens regular sizes but will expand once interest levels are understood. tHis would be such an amazing project. Im so excited i can harldy stand it.

Let me know what you think of the idea! Dmail me if you have anything negative to say please, which i hope no one will. i plan to start this up as soon as i am back in MI.
michelle

sounds like a great idea and I would be interested and I know a few other people that would be also. However , you probably should do a market research and make sure your idea hasn't been patented

Yeah, ive been looking around but nothing so far! Im not really sure if you can patent something like that. So long as i dont use there name etc...

I think the thing you have to worry about is trademarks, not patents. None of the things you're selling are new inventions, maybe your designs are unique but the idea of printing stuff on a t-shirt, keychain, etc is not new and there are a ton of people doing it so I'd be very surprised if you ran into any patent issues. But for your company name I would definitely do your homework to make sure nobody has that name trademarked, that's a much more likely scenario in my opinion.

Yeah, that is much more of a scenario. So far on my searches i havent found anything with the name i have chosen.

Have you been to the USPTO site to search? Assuming you can figure out their search function they should be the be-all, end-all source for what's trademarked or not. I've never searched for trademarks there, but their patent search engine leaves something to be desired. However, trademarks are a little more straightforward to look for than patents, either a name's trademarked or it's not, so I think you might have an easier time than if you were looking for patents. http://www.uspto.gov/

thanks!

Just a thought, but organic cotton is quite expensive, as I'm sure you know- you might market them as "gifts for your favorite beneficial" rather than things for yourself, as folks are always more willing to spend the extra on a gift than on themselves.