A VIGYL X Rainbow Railroad Hanlan’s Candle Update.
This past Wednesday, June 01, we delivered the first check to the Rainbow Railroad organization from the sales of our limited edition candle, Hanlan’s.
June 01 also happened to be the first day of Pride month, which made the journey to the Rainbow Railroad offices a humbling and gratifying trip.
The Rainbow Railroad organization exists because in many places around the world LGBTQ+ people still face violence and discrimination simply for who they love and who they are. Their noble mission is to help those people get to safety. I was first introduced to the organization a number of years ago. As a gay man and entrepenuer, I am so proud to finally be able to collaborate with them on Hanlan’s.
When we started developing the Hanlan’s candle, we were inspired by a number of aspects of the iconic Toronto island beach; The transportive atmosphere of a destination vacation, a mere ferry ride from the busy downtown core. The hot sand and crisp waters satisfying a mirage of familiar faces and bodies. The liberating sense of belonging, being present and presenting. Community. Creativity. Pride. And of course, Freezie Girl (IYKYK). These inspirations lead to a final product that’s truly a love letter to the beach and the people who frequent it.
So what does Hanlans smell like? On the outside packaging, you will read that Hanlan’s smells like “white hot sun and tanned bums on paradise isle”, and we would argue it does. The fragrance formula is chic AF and the burn is even and clean. But what we hope you feel when you burn a Hanlan’s candle takes us back to our inspiration: a sense of community and pride.
To date, we are proud to have sold through 34% of Hanlan’s candles, getting us a third of the way to our goal of a $5000 donation. None of this would have been possible without the support of the LGBTQ+ and ally community. The response for the collaboration has been overwhelmingly positive and allowed us to engage with our community on a whole new level. I would like to say a wholehearted thank you to everyone who has supported our Rainbow Railroad collaboration so far, customers and creative collaborators alike, and for making our brand VIGYL a part of your personal home fragrance collections.
In the spirit of Pride month, from June 01-30th, we are upping our donation from $5 to $10 on all Hanlan’s 10oz candles as our way of celebrating and paying it forward (Online only at VIGYL.CA). We have a number of exciting campaigns and promotions planned this month to help reach out donation goal, and hope that you will enjoy our efforts to build and support our queer community.
In conclusion, what does Pride smell like? That’s a loaded question that we don’t pretend to be the authority on. But for us, it’s the sweet scent of delivering a donation that our community made possible, to an organization that will make the lives of others safer and better. Pretty damn awesome.
Hanlan’s is available now at www.vigyl.ca
You can donate to Rainbow Railroad directly at: https://www.rainbowrailroad.org/donate
Wishing everyone a safe and happy Pride month, and see you at the beach!
Yours Truly,
Stephen Michlits
Founder, VIGYL
