I am the founder of a clothing line that spoke out against ICE. I was fired from the store, but the response is worth it.

• When Rachel Hruska founded the clothing line Lingua Franca, she had no intention of making it political.

• But Brand has taken a stand on several causes, including, most recently, against ICE.

• She lost business because of it, though she says it was worth it. Here is the reason.

This essay is based on a conversation with Rachel Hruska, founder of the clothing brand Lingua Franca. It has been edited for length and clarity.

When I started Lingua Franca, it wasn’t meant to be a business. I was running another company and did embroidery to get out of my mind. I was suffering postpartum, and a therapist suggested I do something with my hands.

I had an old sweater lying around, embroidered with “Buya” — a suggestion from my two-year-old son — and Instagrammed it. Soon, friends were asking me for sweaters.

Then in 2016, I got a call from Net-a-Porter. It really wanted to start a line with us. I worked like crazy to build a cashmere supply chain and hire embroiderers, and we officially launched in September of that year.

At first it was not political. We started with phrases from my muse, my mother-in-law, Janet McPherson, who was a single mother, the oldest female surfer, and lives on her own terms.

Then, when Trump was elected in 2016, we freaked out. I wanted a gift for Anna Carter, Graydon Carter’s wife. At the time, Graydon was in several public spats with Trump. I decided to embroider “I miss Barack” on a sweater, posted a photo, and it went completely viral.

Then, one of Trump’s first acts as president was to bar citizens of some countries, including Iran, from entering the US. At that time, there were two Iranian students who sewed for me who could not go home because they could not afford to return.

I thought, “This is so messed up.” I posted “I miss Barack” sweaters and said $100 from each sweater would be donated to the American Civil Liberties Union. I will never forget that weekend. We received many orders via email and DM. We raised $100,000 for the ACLU in one weekend, and that was the spark. I felt like my life had meaning.

Tom Hanks talked about us on TV. Connie Britton wore one of our sweaters to the Golden Globes. We had no PR; We didn’t advertise. Every celebrity bought it for themselves.

Since that moment, we have started collaborating with organizations. We opened a store on Bleecker Street in Manhattan and brought in panelists. It’s not always anti-Trump. We are intentional and pick and choose who we work with. We’ve raised money for Planned Parenthood, Margaret Atwood did a book event with us, and we partnered with the Whitney Museum.

Now, PBS is a big one. I feel really good about sending PBS a big check every quarter. Can I do five different reasons in one quarter? No, we will not be in business.

I don’t want to be a political brand — we have a whole ready-to-wear line clothes and assisted With everything from “Wicked” to the Westminster Dog Show. I love designing beautiful clothes, but I can’t say anything.

Shortly after ICE entered Minneapolis and the killing of Renee Goode, we posted a design for sweaters on Instagram with the words “Mult ICE” and “I like my ICE crushed.” We encouraged our followers to speak out and donated a percentage of the proceeds from the sweaters to the Immigrant Rights Action Committee of Minnesota.

Less than a week later, a store sent us an email saying they wouldn’t carry Lingua Franca because of my political views. I didn’t even get it back to the store – it’s not worth it. I am not concerned about the trade deficit, but rather the message behind it.

Backlash comes with the territory

This isn’t the first time the brand has received pushback.

There are people and stores that don’t want to buy from us or be associated with us. We are in talks to collaborate with big retailers, which would add more money to our bottom line, but they have balked because we are political.

I have been called. The brand is said to be performative. We have been accused of making money out of tragedy. I’ve seen it all. I have been called every name in the book from every side.

I am beyond caring. I know in my heart that my intention is to make the world a better place, and we are persistent about it. It may seem trivial, but you can look at our bottom line and see that we’re doing this because we really want to raise money and start conversations — about how to help and what actions to take.

I think many leaders are afraid to speak up because they are worried about being called vigilantes or protestors, but until people say “this is wrong” nothing will change.

I’m going to continue doing what I’ve been doing for 10 years, and some people will celebrate that, some won’t. It’s okay, because I can sleep at night. I wear my heart on my sleeve – on my chest, literally.

I’m using brands like Patagonia and Ben & Jerry’s as my models. I am very disappointed with the business leaders who have allowed what is happening; People forget how much power they have.

Read the original article on Business Insider