For those interested in sweatshops, human rights, and that type of stuff, this may be of interest to you. 
<<Sunday Independent, November 07, 2004
Larissa Nolan
Ali Hewson, Bono's wife, is set to take over the world of fashion with her own socially conscious clothing range.
Renowned charity worker Ali will launch the Edin brand early next year. All pieces in the collection will be organically made by fair trade workers.
The patron of the Chernobyl Children's Project (CCP) has been working discreetly on the fashion line, which she hopes will be on sale in America as early as February 2005.
An internationally famous male designer has been recruited, although his name will not be released until a later stage.
She plans to launch the brand in Ireland shortly after it gets off the ground in the U.S., and has reportedly already been in talks with Brown Thomas head Galen Weston about stocking it.
A spokesperson for Brown Thomas said: "We have not seen the clothes yet, but we are excited about the project.
"We look forward to seeing the collection with a view to stocking it in Brown Thomas."
The Edin brand will be mostly made up of casual wear in styles that are at the cutting edge of fashion. Jeans, tops and jackets will make up a good proportion of the collection.
Some of the collection has already been manufactured and is ready to wear. Ali herself wore a pair of Edin jeans when she attended Nell McCafferty's book launch in the Shelbourne Hotel last Tuesday.
The slim brunette, 43, was the perfect model to debut the jeans, which were a black, tight-fitting boot-cut pair.
Ali told a friend: "I'm celebrating the start-up of the fashion line. These jeans are just as nice as any designer pair of jeans, and yet there is the added bonus of knowing that they are fair trade. And there's a whole collection to choose from."
Those close to Ali say she set up the brand to help drive sweatshops out of fashion. The promotion of fair trade is something about which she and Bono, her husband of 22 years, are both very passionate.
Bono hinted at her plans in an interview earlier this year, when he said: "Right now she's looking at a new way of doing business in apparel. It may be one of the biggest brands in the next few years, so watch out."
The fair trade method of business is supported by a number of high-profile celebrities, including Coldplay's Chris Martin and his actress wife Gwyneth Paltrow.
It involves using practices in which people in the Third World are paid properly and receive health insurance.
Money raised from Ali's Edin brand will go back to the fair trade workers who made the clothes. If profit margins allow, some of the money made will also go to the Chernobyl Children's Project, which was founded by Ali's close friend and fellow charity worker Adi Roche.
Ali's brand is an independent venture and is not linked to either the U.K. Fairtrade company, which produces fairly traded edible goods, or the CCP.
Ali is no stranger to charity fashion projects, having been a key player in the Brown Thomas international fashion shows, where she raised hundreds of thousands of euro for charity.
Despite being married to the world's biggest rock star, Ali has kept a low profile since her marriage to Bono in 1982. She spends most of her time looking after their four children and focusing on her charity work.>>
<<Sunday Independent, November 07, 2004
Larissa Nolan
Ali Hewson, Bono's wife, is set to take over the world of fashion with her own socially conscious clothing range.
Renowned charity worker Ali will launch the Edin brand early next year. All pieces in the collection will be organically made by fair trade workers.
The patron of the Chernobyl Children's Project (CCP) has been working discreetly on the fashion line, which she hopes will be on sale in America as early as February 2005.
An internationally famous male designer has been recruited, although his name will not be released until a later stage.
She plans to launch the brand in Ireland shortly after it gets off the ground in the U.S., and has reportedly already been in talks with Brown Thomas head Galen Weston about stocking it.
A spokesperson for Brown Thomas said: "We have not seen the clothes yet, but we are excited about the project.
"We look forward to seeing the collection with a view to stocking it in Brown Thomas."
The Edin brand will be mostly made up of casual wear in styles that are at the cutting edge of fashion. Jeans, tops and jackets will make up a good proportion of the collection.
Some of the collection has already been manufactured and is ready to wear. Ali herself wore a pair of Edin jeans when she attended Nell McCafferty's book launch in the Shelbourne Hotel last Tuesday.
The slim brunette, 43, was the perfect model to debut the jeans, which were a black, tight-fitting boot-cut pair.
Ali told a friend: "I'm celebrating the start-up of the fashion line. These jeans are just as nice as any designer pair of jeans, and yet there is the added bonus of knowing that they are fair trade. And there's a whole collection to choose from."
Those close to Ali say she set up the brand to help drive sweatshops out of fashion. The promotion of fair trade is something about which she and Bono, her husband of 22 years, are both very passionate.
Bono hinted at her plans in an interview earlier this year, when he said: "Right now she's looking at a new way of doing business in apparel. It may be one of the biggest brands in the next few years, so watch out."
The fair trade method of business is supported by a number of high-profile celebrities, including Coldplay's Chris Martin and his actress wife Gwyneth Paltrow.
It involves using practices in which people in the Third World are paid properly and receive health insurance.
Money raised from Ali's Edin brand will go back to the fair trade workers who made the clothes. If profit margins allow, some of the money made will also go to the Chernobyl Children's Project, which was founded by Ali's close friend and fellow charity worker Adi Roche.
Ali's brand is an independent venture and is not linked to either the U.K. Fairtrade company, which produces fairly traded edible goods, or the CCP.
Ali is no stranger to charity fashion projects, having been a key player in the Brown Thomas international fashion shows, where she raised hundreds of thousands of euro for charity.
Despite being married to the world's biggest rock star, Ali has kept a low profile since her marriage to Bono in 1982. She spends most of her time looking after their four children and focusing on her charity work.>>
), American Apparel, with their anti-sweatshop policy, practices ethical labour but not fair trade. Fair trade refers specifically to the practice of buying goods from small-scale producers in third world countries at prices guaranteed to cover the costs of production. 
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