Franklin Native Launches Business; Goal to Send A Kid to the World Stage

A Franklin woman has a goal: sell 750 units of her newly launched apparel brand — and use the proceeds to send a child and chaperone to a World Cup match this summer.

Jessica Anselmi grew up in Franklin, played softball and volleyball at Franklin High School (Class of 2004), and grew up with a love of the Olympics that started early. But it was her first trip abroad — taken while still a teenager at FHS — that planted the seed for the business she just launched.

"That trip was the first time I saw myself as a citizen of the world, not just a kid from Franklin," Anselmi said. "I came home knowing I'd spend my life traveling and soaking in as many global experiences as possible."

She did. After graduating Franklin High School, Anselmi went on to play volleyball at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania. She built a career in marketing and communications, settling in Boston, where she now works as a senior leader at Klaviyo, a Boston-based technology company. She’s visited 20+ countries and the list keeps growing.

But it was a recent trip to the 2026 Milan Winter Olympics where she had the idea for Crowd Wear. While there, she noticed fans were either fully decked out in national gear or wearing nothing special at all. For someone attending simply for the experience, she saw a gap.

"I was there for the moment, not a particular flag," she said. "There's no brand for people like me — people who just show up because they love the energy of the world coming together."

That observation became Crowd Wear, a lifestyle apparel brand she launched this month at crowdwearcollective.com — working nights and weekends around her full-time job. The timing is no accident: the FIFA World Cup opens June 11 at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough and runs through the July 19 final, practically in Franklin's backyard. Anselmi's parents still live in town.

She sees this summer as the perfect test ahead of the LA 2028 Olympics. Which brings us back to that kid she wants to inspire. Anselmi has pledged that if the brand reaches 750 purchases over the next few weeks, she will personally send a child and chaperone to a World Cup match.

"I know what the experience of a global sporting event meant to me," she said. "I want to be the person who gives that to a kid who wouldn't otherwise get the chance."

Support the brand's goal and sign up for updates at crowdwearcollective.com, or follow on Instagram and Facebook at @crowdwearcollective.