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Honey Clothing Co.: Sweet Fashion with Even Sweeter Intentions

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Honey Clothing Company is a fashion brand started by new mom Elizabeth McGlathery. The brand currently specializes in women’s tees and accessories. While Honey Clothing’s products are certainly sweet and cute, there’s more to the company than simply selling pretty things. Honey Clothing Company also helps children around the world through Holt. 

“I launched Honey Clothing Company ultimately to stay at home with our son,” Elizabeth says. “My husband and I felt like we had missed out on so much of his little life already. So we decided to take a leap of faith.”

As sweet as this sounds, Elizabeth has even sweeter intentions behind her business. One is an exercise of conscience. All of Honey Clothing Company’s tees are sourced from socially responsible manufacturers that take good care of their employees and create their items through eco-friendly practices.

Her other intention is to help support single mothers in South Korea through Holt International. With every order, Honey Clothing Company donates $2 to Holt.

Elizabeth’s connection to Holt is deeply personal. She and her husband adopted their 2-year-old son Wilson through Holt from South Korea. In fact, it was Wilson who gave the company its name, as one of the first English words he said was “honey.”

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“Through the adoption process, we learned more about the cause of the orphan crisis in South Korea,” Elizabeth shares. “A lot of unwed mothers are not supported. We just wanted to help and we wanted our money to be able to go towards something that’s helping with the root of the problem. So, when we brought our son home, we reached out to Holt to ask how we could continue supporting Korea. That’s what we were directed to do,
and we love it.”

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The stigma of single motherhood is indeed a great concern in South Korea. Holt traces its beginnings to mid-1950s Korea when its founders, Harry and Bertha Holt, adopted eight children left orphaned or abandoned in the wake of the Korean War. Today, war and poverty are no longer the main reasons that children come into orphanage care in Korea, but rather, the discrimination that single mothers often face if they choose to parent. These women need help to overcome stigma, and independently parent their children. But with the help of generous donors and companies like Honey Clothing Company, Holt supports many single mothers and their children — helping them get the housing and care they need, and even empowering these women to complete their education so they can build better lives for themselves and their kids. While Holt continues to help find families for children through adoption, they primarily help children remain in the loving care of their birth families — in South Korea and countries around the world.

Elizabeth is eager to get the message of her sweet intentions across to Honey Clothing Company’s customers and followers. Aside from donating part of her sales, she has linked her business website to Holt so people can learn more about Holt’s work. As a nice touch, her products are delivered to clients in a flower envelope with a postcard of her family that shares her story and heart.

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Tee’s to inspire at Honey Clothing Company

“The postcard is basically a thank you letter from me and my family, just telling the story of how we brought our son home,” Elizabeth shares. “It also says why I launched Honey Clothing and how they’re not only supporting my dream of starting a business, but also how they’re supporting single mothers in Korea.”

“I want people to know that they’re not just buying a shirt or an earring,” she says, “they’re supporting a family and a greater mission.”

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