CRANSTON – Jose Castellanos is no stranger to struggle.
From his upbringing in the Dominican Republic, a place he characterized by a lack of opportunity and resources as well as its own disasters, to his decision to start his own small business, Castellanos has faced many challenges both personal and professional.
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“It’s not easy to start a business, especially if you’re an immigrant,” he said, adding that the “I know a guy” mentality among Rhode Islanders made it especially difficult to jump start his Cranston-based T-shirt printing company, Rhody Tees Screen Printing.
But those obstacles have made Castellanos more creative and resilient, two qualities he’s used to help support his company and others during the coronavirus crisis.
Rhody Tees recently added a new T-shirt design, dubbed “the most important shirt we have ever printed” according to the company website, specifically to support the small business community. Emblazoned with an anchor and the words “together we overcome,” the pale-blue shirt costs $20, with half the proceeds of each sale benefiting a local small business of the buyer’s choice.
As of last week, Castellanos had sold about 20 shirts benefiting six small businesses across the state, though he hoped to scale-up sales as word spread.
As a primarily business-to-business operation, Castellanos framed the idea as a way to help other companies as well as his own.
“If I help [other businesses] to get through this, I am also helping myself later on,” he said.
Of the shirt slogan, Castellanos said it reflected his love for the tight-knit nature of the state, a place he immediately fell in love with when he arrived from the Dominican Republican nine years ago.
“As soon as I landed in Rhode Island, I knew this was home, I wanted to die here,” he said.
Having already shuttered the doors to his Cranston store and laid off his two employees, Castellanos was worried about surviving through a prolonged economic shutdown but was trying to remain optimistic – and come up with new ideas.
Already, he was preparing to add a second T-shirt design – a riff on the “do the five” tips for stopping the spread of COVID-19 except with a sixth item encouraging people to shop local, which he framed as an essential part of the crisis response and recovery.
“We’re in this together,” he said. “Sticking together is how we recover.”
Providence Business News is spotlighting nonprofits, companies and workers stepping up to challenges presented by the spread of the new coronavirus.
Nancy Lavin is a PBN staff writer. You may reach her at Lavin@PBN.com.
