Edun Live on Campus was created in the fall of 2006 through a partnership between Miami University and EDUN LIVE. The intent of this partnership was to bring EDUN LIVE to college campuses with the goal of educating students on the importance of being a socially conscious consumer. The original team consisted of 15 college students and a faculty advisor who were to develop a business model, create a business plan, and increase attention about the program. ELOC is a company run by students for students, selling EDUN LIVE t-shirts, while alerting your social conscience. The students carry out all aspects of the business from the t-shirts to the graphics to the screen printing. This movement has spread to Ohio University, Gonzaga University, Simmons University and Tufts University and is continuing to extend worldwide. The student-run group buys blank T-shirts made in Africa with African-grown cotton, put logos on them to raise awareness of social issues, and sell them to campus organizations and other groups.
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EDUN
Edun Live is a sister brand of Edun Apparel Ltd, or EDUN, the clothing label founded in 2005 by U2 singer Bono, his wife, Ali Hewson, and clothing designer Rogan Gregory, a 1995 Miami graduate. EDUN LIVE makes t-shirts that support sustainable socioeconomic development bringing employment to people in Africa who might otherwise be unemployed. EDUN LIVE works with disenfranchised African citizens, teaching them to grow cotton, sew, and participate in the textile business. The shirts are made in Africa by Africans helping support communities, giving jobs to the jobless, and teaching skills to people who lack specialized training. EDUN LIVE features 100% certified organic cotton t-shirts in their product line and make great efforts to help farmers transition from conventional cotton farming to organic farming through their development of the Conservation Cotton Initiative with the Wildlife Conservation Society.
Goal
The goal – “promote trade, not aid” – is to promote fair trade in Africa, improve overall working conditions, and create sustainable employment in Africa. Edun Live currently manufactures clothing in a network of factories in sub-Saharan African countries, such as Uganda, Lesotho and South Africa. All blank shirts are made from 100% African cotton and the entire production process occurs in these three regions. As well as making clothes at EDUN LIVE's Lesotho factory, EDUN has raised over $600,000 for the Apparel Lesotho Alliance to Fight AIDS (ALAFA) through sales of its ONE Campaign T-shirt, which is made in Lesotho. Over 30% of the workforce in Lesotho is HIV positive. The money raised by Edun has helped workers buy their much-needed antiretroviral medication. The twentieth baby was just born HIV/AIDS free under this program.