When shopping profits go to a meaningful cause, buyer’s remorse is almost nonexistent. 
This is how clothing and accessories brand Serengetee hopes customers sees its products, especially ones on college campuses, where select students represent and promote the brand. 
Founders Ryan Westberg and Jeff Steitz met while studying abroad. The two bonded over their appreciation of fabrics from the countries they were visiting. They started collecting those fabrics, and upon their return back home, the two stayed in touch and started Serengetee. 
“They wanted to figure out a way to help people and do it the best way they can,” said computer science junior and lead campus representative Brian Tucker.
Westberg started selling shirts out of his University of Arizona dorm room. The shirts were made of black and white cotton with the different fabrics being used as pocket accents. Steitz ran the website from New York for online orders. Each fabric the company uses supports a different cause, such as stopping human trafficking and providing clean water for children in Africa. 
Five percent of each purchase goes to the fabric’s designated cause, and today, Serengetee supports 32 movements. 
While Westberg and Steitz have graduated, Serengetee is still prominent on college campuses — including LSU.  
Tucker said the company hit the University’s campus in 2013. Tucker found the company through YouTube star and actor Jimmy Tatro. He said he went on the website and saw the company was looking for campus reps and applied. 
Now, Tucker has moved on to the lead campus rep position of the Southern region. He said there are seven lead reps in the country, each managing a different region. Tucker said he oversees about 227 reps in Louisiana, Texas, Alabama, Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. 
“[The lead reps] pretty much just teach [the campus reps] about Serengetee and try to get them to spread the word and let people know our
mission,” Tucker said. 
Tucker said his main responsibilities are to make sure reps receive a rep package to learn about the company. He’s also responsible for owning merchandise and promoting the brand positively. 
Since the company has stepped onto the University’s campus, Tucker said he’s seen it expand on and off campus. 
He said he’s seen students he knows and some he doesn’t wearing the brand to class. He’s also seen the company expand on what it sells. When Tucker started, he was only promoting T-shirts, but he’s now promoting hats, backpacks, button ups and even iPhone cases and headphones. The T-shirts also have expanded by offering more than black and white cotton shirts for base colors. 
“When I first started, Facebook likes were at about 15,000, and now we’re approaching 400,000 on Facebook right now. And they want to get to a million before the end of this year,” Tucker said. 
He said he hopes to see the brand keep expanding with social media and campus exposure. Tucker and the other lead reps are part of the consumer input that Westberg and Steitz look for and provide input about products and rep program feedback. 
Tucker said next year, a Mardi Gras fabric could possibly be available, and he’s suggested a purple and gold tiger stripe pattern on a gold T-shirt. 
“I know a lot of people who know me as the ‘shirt guy’ because it’s a big part of my life now,” Tucker said.  
You can reach Meg Ryan on Twitter @The_MegRyan.

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Emily Brauner

LSU computer science junior Brian Tucker is the lead representative for Serengetee in the southern region.