By Veronica Beltran

Teen entrepreneur starts brand for charity

Local teen creates brand to benefit the environment and support olympic aspirations

Jul 11, 2019 | 12:22 PM

PRINCE GEORGE–There is a 16-year-old entrepreneur in our midsts who’s launched a clothing brand aimed at preventing climate change.

Jasper Matthe was motivated to start his own brand to support his snowboarding career. Matthe is part of of the BC Snowboarding team, and has been hitting the slopes since a very young age, he was six when he began snowboarding. However being a fulltime student while also flying out to slopes to practice, and competing, finding a job proved to be difficult.

With two entrepreneurial parents, his mom Dana Evaschuck says there was no surprise when Matthe showed interest in creating his own brand.

While his initiative was motivated by wanting to support his snowboarding career, he wanted to give back somehow. The Coral Restoration Foundation seemed like the perfect choice for him; Matthe’s family has travelled to Hawaii in the past and he says on one of those visits, while snorkelling, noticed the depletion of the coral. It was a wake up call to do something, “I want to see my kids…swimming in the coral reefs, and going snorkelling,” something he thinks might not happen if action isn’t taken.

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Matthe started by donating 50 percent of his proceeds to the foundation, but learnt the hard way that 50 percent would not allow him to continue creating merchandise and continue attempting to save for snowboarding.

He now is donating a more feasible, 25 percent and has plans to creating a website, water bottles, and stickers. Matthe also plans to one day compete as an Olympic snowboarder for the country.