Monday, July 12

It's about time, eh?

So in all honesty, after our trip to Ecuador, nothing really seemed important enough to blog about. I'd hear about cool things going on in fashion, beauty, music, whatever, and it all seemed so minuscule when set down next to the work that Hands for Humanity did there. Therefore, some time has passed since I've updated my blog. Who am I kidding, a LOT of time has passed. Work and school can get the best of me sometimes and take more of my energy than is deserving of them, but my head seems to be straightening out lately.

So there's this brand called Edun. It's a clothing line way out of my price range with very basic designs, and was actually founded by Ali Hewson and her husband, drumroll please...

...Bono. "Why is it worth mentioning then?" you may ask, especially if you know I'm not a big fan of U2. The answer is: this clothing line uses organic cotton and was the inspiration for the Conservation Cotton Initiative (CCI), which was also founded by Ali and Bono along with the Wildlife Conservation Society. CCI promotes organic cotton growing in Africa; the war-torn country's cotton used to be a top export, and has since been diminished. The farmers involved have the benefit of premium prices for the raw material, and the end-product is made there as well (weaving, dyeing, printing, cutting, sewing, etc.) creating jobs for the local communities. The end product comes from Edun Live on Campus, which is a t-shirt company run by students around the United States. On that site, anyone can order custom shirts for any event (of course U2's merch is from Edun Live). Or, you can design and order a custom shirt on Zazzle using an Edun Live t-shirt.

Alexandra Marshall did a great piece on the mission in ELLE this month that I'd highly recommend reading for a closer look and keep it in mind for your next t-shirt purchase.