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Student’s business offers green clothing options

For Joe Ballent, it’s all about the green.
Green, as in environmentally green that is.
Ballent, a senior entrepreneurship major at Bradley has recently launched his own online business named Joe Greensleeves. Through his online store, Ballent sells clothes that he said are made in an environmentally sustainable manner.
The clothes he sells are made from bamboo and organic cotton that’s grown in China, according to Ballent’s website, www.joegreensleeves.com. These raw materials are then turned into clothes and sold to retailers like Ballent’s.
“I order [the clothes] from out west,” Ballent said. “California mainly. There’s a couple companies out there, including other start-up companies, that get all this stuff.”
Before starting his business, Ballent said he had a love for the outdoors.
“I’m really involved in a lot of outdoor activities,” Ballent said. “I ski in the winter, and for my summer job I guide white water river trips in Utah. I’m really into climbing too.”
This love for the outdoors, paired with his many activities, is what led Ballent to start Joe Greensleeves.
“I really enjoy the outdoors a lot, and would hate to see it go downhill,” Ballent said. “By doing this, I feel like I can stay involved in that, as well as raise awareness.”
While the fusion of Ballent’s love for nature and the outdoors was the primary reason for Joe Greensleeve’s creation, the idea of a 9-to-5 daily grind also served as motivation for Ballent.
“I didn’t want to go work for the man and get buried in an office cubicle somewhere,” Ballent said. “This seemed like it could work out because it gives me the opportunity to be flexible and portable. I can take it where I live.”
Joe Greensleeves is a business Ballent said he’d been thinking about for some time before taking the steps to put it in motion.
“I’ve thought about it all through college,” Ballent said. “But I really got serious about it last year, my junior year, and then the beginning of this year, senior year, was when I really started to do some work and develop it.”
Ballent said he’s only been open for business for about two weeks, but is already getting orders.
“[Business] has been good,” he said. “I’ve had a good amount of sales. Including a couple to people in different states, which I’m excited about.”
Ballent said his friends are really helping him get his business off to a good start too.
“A bulk of the sales have been to my friends,” he said.
He said if the business stays successful and does well, he’d even consider opening a store somewhere.
Ballent said his only regret was waiting so long to actually make Joe Greensleeves happen.
“Given how things have gone, I would’ve jumped the gun a little earlier I think,” he said.
Ballent’s products can be found on his website, www.joegreensleeves.com.
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