What do the Buffalo Bills mean to you? That's what two Rochester business owners asked children at the Golisano Children’s Hospital as inspiration for a sweatshirt design and the pictures they received were better than they imagined.
Alexi Schottland and Taylor Baker decided to dip their toes in the fashion world in October 2022.
“We’re close to Buffalo and the Buffalo Bills are huge here so we were like, why don’t we start a little thing,” said Taylor Baker, co-founder of Tailgate Trends.
“We’re both passionate about fashion and we wanted to bring an elevated look to the tailgating wardrobe and out of that grew tailgate trends,” said co-founder Alexi Schottland.
But they wanted to give their community more than just new tailgate gear.
“Me and Lex were coming up with ways that we could just do something unique and at the same time would give back in a major way,” said Baker.
“With Golisano being such a pillar in this community, they were really the first option when we started to think about who we would want to work with and donate towards,” Schottland said.
So they reached out to Golisano Children’s Hospital for help.
“We initially reached out to Golisano with just this vague idea of having the children draw what Buffalo Bills means to them,” said Schottland.
And the pictures were beyond what they imagined.
“Every single drawing that we received from these children really surpassed any expecatation, they’re all so talented," Baker said. "They’re all super cute, some are funny some are like really, really well drawn."
It's making this their most exciting and rewarding project so far.
“It has been truly humbling, not only the response of the children but the response of our wonderful Rochester community,” said Schottland.
But not just the Rochester community that has responded.
“We weren’t expecting anything, you know we went out on a whim and we reached out to Dave Portnoy, the founder of Barstool Sports. When we saw that he posted a video of himself in the crewneck it was so beyond shocking but so appreciated,” said Baker.
“Golisono Children’s Hospital in Rochester, the kids drew everything on this sweatshirt,” Portnoy in a video posted to his Instagram account.
“He’s famously not a Bills fan at all, he’s a very famous Patriots fan, so it really was incredible," Schottland said. "I think we’re going to make him an honorary Bills fan for doing this big favor for us."
With sales skyrocketing from his post and sweatshirts being sold as far as Canada and Germany, it's changing the meaning of what the Bills mean to them.
“I was always a Bills fan," Schottland said. "I was always a sports fan. But now to be able to do something really special and to be able to root for the Bills while doing it, really has taken on a whole new meaning."