I just discovered earlier today that The One Campaign has teamed up with the fair trade clothing label Edun to produce a new One logo t-shirt. ONE is the campaign to fight the global emergency of AIDS and extreme poverty. ONE isn’t a charity, though it lists 
many worthy charitable organizations as partners. The mission of ONE is more about raising awareness of these issues and helping those living in extreme poverty to help themselves.
The shirts are already available in The One Campaign’s online shop for $40 each, plus you’ll be able to purchase them at Nordstrom stores starting next month. The shirts are produced in Lesotho of 100% African cotton. The goal of Edun is to bring long-term sustainable employment to some of the poorest developing countries in the world and foster economic growth in these areas. They hope to create a successful and viable business model in this way, so that other companies will want to follow in their footsteps. Lesotho, where these One t-shirts are produced, is one of the poorest countries in the world…the average per capita income there is a mere $402.
According to the Edun website:
In 1980 Africa had a 6% share of world trade. By 2002 this had dropped to just 2% despite the fact that Africa has 12 % of the world’s population.
If Africa could regain just an additional 1% share of global trade, it would earn $70 billion more in exports each year – more than three times what the region currently receives in international assistance. If in addition, all countries in East Asia, South Asia and Latin America were each to increase their share of world exports by 1%, the resulting gains in income could lift 128 million people out of poverty.
In addition to supporting The ONE Campaign, a portion of the t-shirt sales will go directly back to the Apparel Lesotho Alliance to Fight AIDS, which provides life-saving care to factory workers and their families. You can learn more about how you can get involved with The One Campaign here.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Since it isn’t a charity, does this mean that none of the proceeds are being donated to the charitable cause partners? I tried looking around on the sites for the tees, but found nothing about it.
Well, part of the proceeds from these specific shirts go back to the Apparel Lesotho Alliance to Fight AIDS, and I think the rest of the proceeds work the same way as money raised from their white wristbands:
“All proceeds from the sale of ONE white bands go to the continued education and awareness building efforts of Americans on ONE campaign issues.”
I think ONE’s main purpose is to educate and to inform, and they want people to pick the charities they are most interested in to donate money directly to.
Plus, since these particular shirts are being manufactured by Edun in Lesotho, some of the funds will go to pay the workers there, in a place where unemployment is rampant.
Thanks for doing this site, Miss Malaprop. I think that we need more people bringing these types of projects front and center. Again, thank you. If there is anything I can do to help, please please contact me. -Kelly