Sparking conversation one sweatshirt at a time, fashion and lifestyle brand Madhappy aims to break down the barrier of mental health coverage and advocacy. With their initiative, Madhappy offers cute and classic sweats with a meaningful delivery.

Created in 2017, its four founders joined together to spread positivity through comfortable everyday wear. Founders Noah Raff, Josh Sitt, Peiman Raf and Mason Spector started with a line consisting of a couple of hoodies, t-shirts and hats and the feedback was overwhelming. Their main pillars were: positivity, mental health, and optimism. After just a month after their first launch, they formulated pop-up stores.

Through the power of social media, Madhappy created a platform of resources and a blog called the Local Optimist. Devoted to mental health exclusively, they make resources available on social media – a common outlet for teenagers and young adults. Covering sensitive and not-talked-about topics such as eating disorders, toxic masculinity, depression and more, their goal is to create conversations around mental health.

Talking about mental health has been under the radar and now there are repercussions. From personal experiences to interviewing celebrities, their mission has helped to break the stigma surrounding mental health and has helped people get the help and support they need. With research-based programming, their content helps to prioritize everyone on a daily basis.

The Local Optimist has over 19.4 thousand followers on Instagram, with blogs that come out daily, toolkits for illness-specific concerns and specialized features including podcasts. Another popular spotlight to shine on is their collection of essays, featuring advocates’ aspects of navigating certain situations. Along with their formal guides, The Local Optimist offers a texting service to receive the latest Madhappy Podcast episodes, Local Optimist Resources, interviews and more.

Madhappy has partnered up with well-known institutions such as the University of Pennsylvania. The university’s Positive Psychology Center received research grant funds provided by Madhappy to – according to The Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania – “continue and expand [their] scientific studies on the effects of the online intervention in large and diverse samples around the world”. With the guidance of The Positive Psychology Center, Madhappy developed the Common Elements Toolbox (COMET), an online intervention for college students to help reduce depressive symptoms.

In an effort to bring support to those around the world and provide beneficial intervention techniques, the Madhappy Foundation has used The Local Optimist to spread happiness, peace and resilience.