The Arkells’ newest merch isn’t a band T-shirt. It’s two vintage-looking caps with the Toronto District School Board’s distinct logo sewn on the front and all proceeds from the sales go towards supporting healthy breakfast programs for students across the city. The hats went up for pre-order on the band’s online store on Monday, and there are two options available for $40 each: a grey “floppy” hat, and a green rope hat that Arkells singer Max Kerman has previously been spotted wearing. “This is a symbol that is available to everybody, and shouldn’t we nourish those symbols? Shouldn’t we champion those symbols?” Kerman said in an interview with CTV News Toronto. “I hate exclusivity, but especially when it comes to kids, and the idea that some kids are living an exclusive life and others aren’t, is something I think we can all do something about.” The idea for the TDSB hats first came to mind a couple of years ago. Kerman says he would often hear questions about what he was wearing, and figured he could, instead, point that attention to something important—like public education. So, he sent a Google image of the TDSB’s green apple logo to the man who makes Arkells merchandise and asked him if he could make a “cool-looking” vintage cap for him. Then the green rope hat was born. Kerman says he first started wearing that hat for his mom, who used to work as a special education teacher at Toronto’s Central Technical School near Bathurst and Harbord streets. He said she made a difference to her students’ lives by creating a safe and engaging environment for them. He also wears the hat to honour all teachers and the work they do, as Kerman says they help shape the experience students have at school. Since wearing the hat, Kerman says he has frequently been asked about public schools and what they mean to him. Other Canadian artists have also joined in on the conversation in sporting the TDSB cap, like Jim Cuddy, N and The Beaches, to name a few. Kerman went to Harbord Collegiate Institute, just a few blocks away from where his mom worked. “I had a really positive experience in school,” Kerman said. “It was a real good mix of people and I think it’s really shaped the way I see the world and the interest I have in other people. I’m really grateful for that diversity of experience.” The frontman says he got the idea to donate all of the proceeds from these hats to provide healthy breakfasts to students after seeing his nieces and nephews go to high schools that offer it, and through the stories he had heard from his mom when she was still teaching. “My mom, a lot of the kids at her school at Central Tech, were coming from low-income neighbourhoods who didn’t have a ton of resources at home and had parents that were really busy and probably working multiple jobs,” Kerman said. “Food is so expensive right now.” The proceeds of the two caps go toward the Toronto Foundation for Student Success’s Student Nutrition Programs, which provides more than 284,000 healthy meals to students in Toronto every school day. It’s a program that alleviates the stress on lower-income families and Kerman is of the mind that all students should be on an equal playing field when it comes to their school experience. “Every kid should have the same chance of a good education when they walk through (their school’s) doors, and I think that’s what we need to do collectively, is strive for that,” Kerman said. He hopes when people see these hats they are reminded of the public institutions that shaped many of them to who they are today. “You want to live in a city, and also a country, where you take so much pride in walking through every different neighbourhood. Not that every (one) should be the same, but that you have pride walking through every single space,” Kerman said. “I think that’s our goal, let’s make every school something that we can be really proud of.”
