If pounding the pavement is a necessary step toward success, then 37 year old Dan Gigante is well on his way, having logged more than 23,000 miles across 23 cities, armed with a backpack filled with t-shirts and an idea he came up with 2 years ago.
"I said I can sell shirts and donate them to homeless people. I kind of expanded that to people in need," said Gigante.
The Buffalo, New York native is in the midst of a 30 city tour to expand his year old company called You and Who.
Much of that tour involves visiting homeless shelters, including the Burlington Emergency Shelter.
You and Who donates a shirt to a shelter for every shirt it sells, in the city where it's sold.
The more shelters which like his idea, the wider his company's reach and, the former web developer says, the greater the reward.
"It feels really good," said Gigante.
On Tuesday he was in search of artists to design shirts that will be sold in Vermont.
A few skeptics have wondered whether Gigante is using the issue of homelessness to make a buck, but he points out the obvious.
"I walk around with a backpack, I'm not riding around in a great car," he said.
Instead he's pounding the pavement and trying to expand an idea that aims to help people who could use it - one shirt at a time.
"It's all about giving back in a way I can sustain it," said Gigante.
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