Shop Drops Lingua Franca Over Anti-ICE Stance

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When Rachelle Hruska started her clothing brand Lingua Franca, she had no intention of getting political. But then, of course, she did.

In an as-told-to essay posted on Business Insider, Hruska talks about the surprising political turn her brand has taken in recent years. And the consequences (and benefits) she has been subject to as a result.

“When I started Lingua Franca, it wasn’t meant to be a business,” she says. “I was running another company and took up embroidery to get out of my brain. I was suffering from postpartum, and a therapist suggested I do something with my hands.

“I had an old sweater lying around, embroidered “booya” on it — my two-year-old son’s suggestion — and Instagrammed it. Soon, friends were asking me for sweaters.”

Then, in 2016, Net-a-Porter called and asked to place an order. Suddenly, Hruska had a bona fide business on her hands. Later that year, Trump took the White House. Hruska was “devastated.” She made a sweater for Anna Carter (wife of Graydon) that said “I miss Barack” and when Trump started blocking the citizens of certain countries from entering the US, she started selling the sweaters online, donating $100 from every purchase to the American Civil Liberties Union. She raised $100,000 for the organization in just one weekend.

“I felt like my life had meaning,” she says.

Over the next decade, she engaged in further political action — raising money for Planned Parenthood and PBS.

“Soon after ICE entered Minneapolis and Renée Good’s killing, we posted on Instagram designs for sweaters with the sayings ‘melt ICE‘ and ‘I like my ICE crushed,’” she says. “We encouraged our followers to speak out and donated a percentage of the proceeds from the sweaters to Minnesota’s Immigrant Rights Action Committee.

That’s when she got an email from one of her retailers that they would be dropping her for her political stance.

It’s not the first time Hruska’s politics have cost her a business and she’s sure it won’t be the last, but she’s okay with that.

“I’m going to continue doing what I’ve been doing for 10 years, and some people will celebrate it, some won’t,” she says. “That’s OK, because I can sleep at night. I have worn my heart on my sleeve — on my chest, literally.”