By Dante Cabral
Asst. Features Editor
Bonne Vie is a new apparel company that was started by a group of Sacred Heart students. CEO Alex Guerrero is a junior at Sacred Heart with a Marketing and Management double major and a minor in Entrepreneurship and Advertising.
Guerrero, who is from Long Hill, New Jersey, started the company to help bring awareness to causes that aren’t given the recognition he thinks they deserve.
“Our goal is to raise awareness for causes that don’t really have it,” said Guerrero
Bonne Vie means “the good life” in French and is the motto that the company is trying to live by.
“That’s really what we are trying to promote, whether it be an end to breast cancer or helping people through their anxiety or depression,” said Guerrero.
Guerrero and his team started working on Bonne Vie in March of this year, but didn’t release actual products until a series of hats in July.
Bonne Vie hats each display one word that highlights a specific cause the company is trying to shed light on. The three released so far are Vitae, Erro, and Amare.
The Vitae line is dedicated to spreading awareness for breast cancer, while Erro focuses on depression, and Amare on domestic abuse.
“I bought the hat that donates to the breast cancer foundation because it really hits home for me. I have someone very close to me who is fighting cancer right now, so knowing I could help donate to help find a cure meant a lot to me,” said junior Aarika Mallory.
Each of the three words has a meaning that the Bonne Vie team thinks symbolizes each issue accordingly.
Vitae translates to life, something that those affected with breast cancer fight for every day. Erro means wanderer and the company feels that people suffering from depression tend to wander alone through life. Amare represents love and fights against domestic abuse.
Guerrero has a dedicated team that helps him make Bonne Vie as strong as it is today. One member is CFO Billy Gounaris, a junior at Sacred Heart.
“One of the main reasons I joined Bonne Vie was because I felt it was a great opportunity to help others and help spread as much awareness as I could for those in need,” said Gounaris.
Bonne Vie has partnered with the National Breast Cancer Foundation, the Anxiety and Depression Association of America and the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. Thirty percent of the company’s profits benefit these organizations.
“We plan to make our donations even higher once we can sustain ourselves,” said Guerrero.
The Bonne Vie team specifically makes hats because they believe they are more unique than the standard t-shirt.
“You can only make a shirt so different,” said Guerrero. “But if you see someone walking around with a pink strap on their hat, you know that’s us. That unique quality helps the people wearing our stuff be unique, and it helps our brand be unique.”
In addition to working on a new line that may release in spring of next year, Bonne Vie is also creating new designs that will highlight disorders such as autism and heart disease.
Bonne Vie is working closely with Sacred Heart on a university-edition hat that will potentially launch in the spring. The hat would be available at SHU events and fundraisers on campus throughout the year.
For more information, visit @bvapparelco on Instagram or the company website, https://www.bvapparelco.com/.
“Many of us are fortunate enough to go through our lives and be free of issues like cancer, depression, or domestic violence and I felt this was a way for me to give back to my community, and others as well,” said Gounaris.
