Live Your Colour’s Highlights for 2024

2024 was a busy and eventful year for Live Your Colour, as we opened a new retail store, hosted events, and continued our work giving back to the community through contributing a total of $8,054 in cash and in-kind donations! Read below to learn how we fulfilled our commitment to quality, community, and connections.

Supporting the Environment, Culture, and Education through Replant Pairs and Quarter Socks Projects

Our Quarter Socks Project supports local schools, cultural education programs, or other local community projects. For each pair of Tabbisocks, Kihachiro-sho, or Ninja Socks brand socks purchased, we donate 25 cents to these causes.

Proceeds from Quarter Socks helped support the 2024 Pacific Northwest Japan Bowl, a regional quiz competition on Japanese language and culture that is owned and hosted by the Japan-America Society of Oregon (JASO). It was held in March at Clark College in Vancouver, WA. Live Your Colour donated $1,000 as a sponsor of the event, and our Founder and CEO Mari Maarlie Kawamura participated as a celebrity judge.

Through Quarter Socks, LYC also made the following donations to these Portland-area programs and organizations in 2024: 

January

• $230 and Ninja Socks (a $480 value) to JASO’s Shinnenkai
  

March

• Socks (a $750 value) to the Toyama Prefectural Office for university students visiting Oregon on a study tour

• Marukyu Koyamaen matcha (a $150 value) to Shining Star Waldorf School
  

May

• $1,000 to Portland-Sapporo Sister City Association
  

April

• Purchasing $700 in tickets and donating socks and haori jackets (valued at $250) for fundraising raffle for JASO’s Annual Gala & General Meeting
  

August

• $1,000 to Kinone, a local daycare for children

• $1,500 worth of Marukyu Koyamaen tea and Ninja Socks to the Japanese Business Association of Portland (Shokoukai)’s Fundraising Bazaar for The Great East Japan Earthquake
  

December

• Marukyu Koyamaen tea and Ninja Socks (a $500 value) for raffle prizes for JASO’s Holiday After Hours event

Additionally, for every Replant Pairs purchased, LYC donates $1 to nonprofits dedicated to replanting trees in Washington, Oregon, and California. In 2024, we had the honor of making the following contributions to each organization:

• State Forests Wildfire Restoration Fund (Santiam Campaign) in Oregon: $3,509

• Southern California Forest Fund in California: $1,528

• Nisqually Land Trust in Washington: $279

• National Forests Foundation (nationwide): $125
  

Furthermore, our sales of Replant Pairs in 2024 raised a total of $4,717 which will be donated to these nonprofits in 2025!

LYC Events and New Store in Portland

Live Your Colour opened their new retail shop on NW 23rd Avenue in Portland on May 17th, featuring LYC’s own brands of socks and tights, as well as Japanese tea, artisan gifts, and more. As the official US distributor of Marukyu Koyamaen matcha, we also held in-store tasting events in October and December to showcase their high-quality products. If you are in the area, we hope you’ll stop by!

In celebration of the 65th anniversary of the sister city relationship between Sapporo and Portland, Hokkaido Shimbun Co. and Live Your Colour hosted the 2024 Hokkaido Gourmet Business Fair in Portland. We proudly presented 14 top Hokkaido food and beverage producers, showcasing a range of products such as confections, ramen, alcoholic beverages, mint products, snacks, and sauces. The 10-day event included a B2B exchange, connecting Hokkaido’s food businesses with local buyers in San Jose and Portland, as well as a special reception and Hokkaido pop-up and test marketing event for consumers.

The reception was held in Portland, with venue space provided by the Japan America Society of Oregon (JASO), to introduce Hokkaido’s food products to representatives from Prosper Portland and other food industry professionals. The pop-up, held at LYC’s Portland retail store, offered consumers the chance to purchase selected products, providing insights into market demand. Additionally, LYC donated $494 of sales from the pop-up to the Portland-Sapporo Sister City Association.

This event raised Hokkaido brand awareness, provided insights into local markets, created networking opportunities, and ultimately strengthened the relationship between both Sapporo and Portland - cities both known for their high-quality agriculture and cuisine.

We were honored to use our business for good and give back to our community in 2024, all while promoting Japanese culture and fostering cross-cultural exchange. Live Your Colour has more special projects in store for 2025 - we look forward to continuing to support important causes while carrying out our mission to “colour the world” with high-quality Japanese products!