As fair-trade fashion continues to make waves as we roll ino 2013, two of the most popular brands in the arena, Edun and Diesel, are getting together for a signature collection that is entirely sourced and manufactured in Africa.
Edun, which is founded by Bono from U2, and his wife Ali Hewson have been working for years on elevating the potential of manufacturing in Africa. Diesel founder, Renzo Rosso, is known for leading-edge ideas including Diesel’s Only the Brave Foundation in Dioro, Mali.
The Diesel+EDUN denim collection will be co-branded and designed and released this February 2013 with cotton coming excusively from Edun’s Conservation Cotton Initiative in northern Uganda.
Accoridng to Ali Hewson, “Bono and I have known Renzo Rosso for over ten years. When we decided to travel to Africa to visit both the Millennium Village in Mali and the cotton farming program in Northern Uganda – the result would be both an amazing journey and a collaboration resulting in a line of beautiful clothes made from our cotton in Uganda and 100% made in Africa.”
According to Rosso, “We married the competencies of Edun in African trade, with our know-how and outreach, to create something that was never done before: denim which is completely sourced and manufactured in Africa and distributed all over the world. But even more, with this project we want to show to consumers and to industry alike, that it is indeed possible to source, produce, and generate sustainable trade in Africa.”
Sustainabile and fair-trade fashion is a growing trend among youth culture brands and the marketplace itself. According to Label Networks‘ Sustainability and the State of the Future Youth Culture Study, young people between the ages of 13-25-years-old are very concerned about the environment and humanitarian issues, with a growing demand towards learning more. This includes finding out about where their fashion is made and how the process is handled.
Label Networks will be presenting from their Sustainability and Youth Culture report at the upcoming Outdoor Retailer Traed Show on January 24, from 12 noon to 1 p.m. in Salt Lake City, UT. For more information or to register, email info@labelnetworks.com.
Check-out the excellent presentation by Ali, Bono, Renzo, and others at the IHT Conference about sustainability and fashion.
