Charles Watson Jr. is hoping to bring awareness to addiction and Alzheimer’s through his fashion line Art Saves.
Watson grew up in Oswego, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, but moved to Indianapolis to study business at the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University Indianapolis. He founded his own business, Redline, in October of last year, where he uses fashion, storytelling and visual design to “turn personal and cultural memories into wearable objects,” according to a press release.
“I built Art Saves because I don’t want anyone to go through what my family and I went through and feel like they have to carry it alone,” Watson said in a statement. “The weight is already heavy; silence makes it heavier.”
Growing up, Watson told the Recorder he always knew he wanted to be a designer, and he used to “scribble little fashion designs in a notebook” and put prices on them as if he planned to sell them at school. His current project, “Art Saves” which is part of Redline’s fashion brand Red40, has been in the works for a long time.
Art Saves is a public-voted fashion campaign where viewers get to decide which items get made and released first, Watson said. The project was born out of Watson’s desire to make a difference in the lives of people going through situations that he and his family have already been through and survived, including addiction, Alzheimer’s and disaster relief.
When Watson was in high school, his mother battled addiction, and he said the experience allowed him to understand the condition and the people struggling with it a little better. Watson also used to spend the summers in Mississippi with his grandfather who recently passed from Alzheimer’s, and one of the designs — a magnolia duffle bag — pays homage to their time together.
“To be honest with you, it was a little bit of a tough decision, just having to reopen those wounds a little bit,” Watson said. “But at the end of the day, I knew that if I can help someone not have to go through the scenario, or at least just give someone the hand of help that I would have wanted in that scenario, then I knew that it would be worth it. So that’s why I had to make this choice, and you know, bring this idea and creation to life.”
Watson chose fashion as the vehicle to raise awareness for these causes to start conversations and give people a new, unique way to support his work, but also organizations working to find cures and care for those in need. The Art Saves campaign features a collection for each organization: “We All Bleed the Same” for the American Red Cross, “Love is Louder” for the SAFE Project, and “Magnolia / Memory” for the Alzheimer’s Association.
The collection features a variety of hoodies, t-shirts, pants, jackets, hats, purses, wallets and cardholders. One particular piece in the “Love Is Louder” collection is a bag that Watson said he designed in response to his mother’s battle with addiction.
“When she was first going through that, and I dropped her off at the hospital, there were a lot of nurses who were being kind of judgmental at the time, and that bag I designed with that idea in mind,” Watson said. “Essentially, what that bag has is a whole bunch of words, just negativity, and a giant patch over it that says ‘Love is Louder.’ Because as long as I knew in that moment, and I gave my mom love, I knew that she was gonna be fine, and everything turned out fine.”
As people vote and reserve items from the Art Saves campaign, Watson said 100% of the net profits will go to three organizations that are connected to experiences he understands personally, including the Alzheimer’s Association, the American Red Cross and SAFE Project.
Also, having grown up in a Catholic family, Watson said giving back through his work is something he’s wanted to do for a long time.
“It means absolutely everything to me to be able to help and support these causes that have personally affected me,” Watson added. “Most importantly, I believe that because most of these products are designed in mind and with influence to these causes, I feel like it would be wrong in order to not give back (through) the opportunity that has been given to me in order to help and support these processes.”
“Art Saves” is currently live for those interested in supporting the campaign. Reservations and voting close on Aug. 31. For more information, visit red40.co.
Contact Arts & Culture Reporter Chloe McGowan at 317-762-7848. Follow her on X @chloe_mcgowanxx.
Chloe McGowan is the Arts & Culture Reporter for the Indianapolis Recorder Newspaper. Originally from Columbus, OH, Chloe has a bachelor's in journalism from The Ohio State University. She is a former IndyStar Pulliam Fellow, and has previously worked for Indy Maven, The Lantern, and CityScene Media Group. In her free time, Chloe enjoys live theatre, reading, baking and keeping her plants alive.
