Edun Promotes Organic Cotton
Bono and Ali Launch Clothing Collection on Premise of Trade Not Aid
Edun uses organic cotton whenever possible in their clothing collection. The growing demand for organic cotton offers a sustainable alternative.
Ali Hewson, Bono and New York clothing designer Rogan Gregory launched Edun in the spring of 2005. While it is a for profit business, it is founded on the premise of trade not aid and promotes sustainable communities. By encouraging business in Africa, it fosters financial growth that helps more Africans become self sufficient and less dependent on aid.
- All Edun’s t-shirts are made from 100% organic cotton. There is a growing demand for organic cotton, which offers an environmentally and socially sustainable alternative.
Africa and Cotton:
- Africa has a long history of growing cotton and they supply over 10% of the world’s cotton. Many African farmers are forced to use pesticides, which costs them more money. Cotton that is produced using hazardous pesticides also hurts our health, land, food and water. People who work on farms that use pesticides are at a high risk of pesticide poisoning.
- Less than 3% of cotton grown in Africa is actually spun into yarn and made into fabric in Africa. Most of it is sold to cotton traders from other countries.
- Processing the fabric is expensive and it can cost up to 120 million to build a well-equipped mill. Edun focuses on offering more opportunities to developing cotton farmers, fabric makers and sewers since it is so hard for them to compete with American farms. This is not necessarily cost effective for them but they are counting on people’s support and predicting loyalty will grow. The more business the fashion industry does with Africa, the more people that are helped out of poverty.
In 2006, Edun launched their Edun Live brand, a line of blank t-shirts for merchandising purposes that will help increase trade and provide sustainable employment in Africa. Besides t-shirts, Edun offers a full fashion collection for men and women including bottoms, tops, jackets, sweaters and dresses.
Edun and ONE
More recently Edun has teamed up with ONE (The Campaign to Make Poverty History) to launch their special edition ONE tee shirt. ONE’s message is that we can beat global AIDS, poverty and bring trade and jobs to Africa.
- Edun works with many other organizations such as OXFAM, Verité, Global Business Coalition, Organic Exchange, ALAFA, Miami University, MFA Forum and ComMark.
- Edun is produced in Peru, India, Lesotho,Uganda,Tunisia, Kenya, Mauritius and Madagascar. 22% of their collection is produced in Africa and 47.1% of the cotton used in their collection is organic. They are working towards a SER (socially and environmentally responsible program) by using more materials that are organic in their collection.
“The company’s mission is to create beautiful clothing, while fostering sustainable employment in developing areas of the world, in particular Africa.”
For more information and references see: Edun Online
