I'm neither hip enough nor young enough to know where today's hottest young rock stars shop for their clothes. If I had to guess, I suppose I would think of New York City's trendiest boutiques or Beverly Hills' most expensive designer stores. Turns out, that at least in the case of one super-star rock band, I'd be wrong.
I read recently that Paramore, the Grammy-nominated, pop-punk band, (I'll admit it--if it weren't for the teenagers living in my house, I would be oblivious to most of today's pop culture. I am confident that right now, wherever they are, my kids are rolling their eyes at me) do their shopping at a much more down-to-earth location: the Franklin, Tennessee, Goodwill Store.
In fact, when asked by MTV about her shopping habits at her hometown Goodwill store, Hayley Williams, the band's lead 20 year-old singer, explained:
When our band first started, we would always come and shop here for random outfits, little photo shoots that we had to do. One time in particular, we were shooting a Christmas card -- my mom took the photo -- and we came here and got sweaters and little Christmas candles and stuff. But more recently, for our album artwork, we picked up the props at this Goodwill ... a lot of little random gadgets that you can see in our artwork -- we got them all here. This place is rad.
Of course, Williams may not realize that when she's picking up discarded Christmas sweaters or knickknacks to photograph for album artwork, she's also supporting programs for at-risk youth and job training their families.
Goodwill is rad! Lots of people (in fact, millions) know that Goodwill is pretty great. More than 2300 Goodwill stores offer affordable, gently-used clothing and fund community-based job training and employment services to people facing challenges. Though Goodwill is more than 100 years old, Hayley's comments demonstrate that Goodwill continues to be an innovative solution for shoppers of all ages and communities throughout the U.S. and Canada. When Hayley and her bandmates, and the millions of other teenagers, professionals and moms and dads, buy the coolest new outfits at their hometown Goodwill stores, they are supporting programs and services that assist people from all walks of life and strengthen the communities we live in. I think that's pretty rad!
Thank you to Hayley Williams and Paramore, and to the millions of other Goodwill fans (the young and old, the hip and the decidedly un-hip). As Haley makes clear, one person's donations are another shopper's inspiration, and more importantly, a community's opportunity.
When I go home tonight I'm downloading Paramore's new album, Brand New Eyes.
(Now if only my kids would stop rolling their eyes...).