Loading ...Luella designs for a good cause
By Nadine Kam
www.ejfoundation.org
The Environmental Justice Foundation shirts were designed by, from left, Luella Bartley, Betty Jackson and Katharine Hamnett.
It’s nice to see Brit designer Luella Bartley using her power for good. She just may be the Bono of the fashion world considering her work for the Environmental Justice Foundation, and Tonic, an ethical T-shirt company whose sales benefit environmental and social welfare projects around the world.
The 100 percent cotton shirts for EJF, above, are priced in pounds at www.ejfoundation.org, making them about $60 for us Yanks. There’s also a colorful floral design by Christian Lacroix. Sales of the men’s and women’s shirts will help to fund the current campaigns:
>> Promoting ethical and sustainable cotton production free from forced child labor and pesticides.
>> Protecting coastal regions and communities from the destruction of precious natural habitats caused by shrimp farms.
>> Seeking an end to illegal fishing, which causes destruction of natural marine environments and livelihoods of coastal communities in developing countries.
>> Persuading governments to ban the use of Endosulfan, a pervasive pesticides.
>> Ending illegal trafficking of plants and animals that is reducing wildlife populations, some to the verge of extinction.
>> Bringing an end to bycatch, millions of tons of fish that are accidentally caught and discarded annually.
At the Tonic Web site www.tonicgen.com four designs by Bartley are featured. The T-shirts are made of a 70/30 blend of bamboo fiber and cotton, and priced at $45 for men and women. Sales will help the following causes:
>> “Pagan Sun” tee: Protect 1/4 acre of endangered coral reef near Palau, Micronesia with partner SaveNature.org. The project aims to protect more than 600 coral and 1,400 fish species, plus sea turtles, dugongs, giant clams and chambered nautilus.
>> Stag tee: A partnership with Alive & Kicking, UK, provides free soccer balls with educational messages about HIV/AIDS and malaria to kids, to combine athletics with education.
>> Robin tee: Along with Friends of Paradis des Indiens, Tonic is helping provide shoes to 2,500 children in Haiti to help them get to school and learn academic subjects and skills such as carpentry, sewing, weaving, agriculture and reforestation.
>> Scary Douglas tee: Revenue from sales of this shirt goes to The Global Fund for Children, who support Fundación Sim’s Healthy Little Mouths program, providing mobile dental clinics that offer free check-ups, toothbrushes and toothpaste to children in Colombia.
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