A Belfast clothing company with a unique social focus on helping homeless people is doubling its headcount and creating 11 new job as it expands its export market.

OutsideIn – which sells a range of streetwear, including t-shirts, sweatshirts, caps and hoodies – donates a product to someone experiencing homelessness for every product purchased.

Since being founded in 2016 it has grown its business globally, donating over 98,500 products across 36 countries through a range of global charity partners.

The latest expansion will see it invest £600,000 to grow its reach around the world and its product offering while also “looking for innovative solutions to end homelessness for good”, David Johnston, founder of OutsideIn, said.

“To continue our growth and further the progress of our mission to become a globally recognised clothing company that gives back to those in need, we now need to double our headcount with 11 new staff, and have recently tripled our office space in Work West to do so,” he said. “Our new employees will focus on securing new international business, expanding our product offering and looking at innovative solutions to end homelessness for good.”

Invest NI has offered OutsideIn £72,000 of support toward the creation of the 11 new jobs. It has been working with the company since 2016.

“When the pandemic prevented us from fulfilling many of our in-person events, Invest NI helped us to shift our focus to the digital landscape and is now supporting us to hire the best candidates to help us do so successfully!,” David said. “As a company that recognises that homelessness is a global issue in need of a global solution, we’ve been so grateful for the crucial role Invest NI has played in helping our products to reach 36 countries and counting, including the US, Canada and across Europe.

“This support has further created opportunities for us to work with a variety of global charities who are an integral part of making our ‘Wear One, Share One’ concept possible.

Susan O’Kane, Invest NI’s Eastern Regional Manager, said OutsideIn hasn’t let COVID-19 hinder its growth plans with a new business strategy.

“On top of support to double its headcount, the company has also availed of support from our People Solutions Advisor to gain important advice on its forthcoming recruitment,” she said. “This will ensure that David and the team have the right structure in place to enable them to focus on growing exports.

“Our team in the US is also supporting OutsideIn to export to the US market. We look forward to seeing the company flourish in international markets and tackle the issue of homelessness on a more global scale.”