bono sweatshop-free

This morning on one of the morning shows, Katie Couric interviewed Bono, his wife Ali, and the clothing designer Rogan who just launched a sweatshop free line of clothing called EDUN.

Some highlights: Ali said, "how can i put my child in clothing made by other children?" Bono said he doesn't want people to buy the clothing out of charity but because they think it's cool, and they know that along the chain of labor, no one was exploited. They want a clothing line that promotes labor, not charity,--something that will continue to provide jobs instead of one-time relief.

One thing Bono said that really touched me was, "i will not wear something that was made in despair." Woah.

He also said (in regard to Africa and third-world nations) that their problems can be solved with one immunization or with food--simple things. "that's just unacceptable," he said. He said in the years to come people will think it's absolutely ridiculous that we had all this money and did nothing to help the easily-fixed issues overseas. He said "it will be just as ridiculous as 'no blacks on the top-half of the bus seems now'."

I just thought I'd share this because sweatshop issues have been on our minds (especially Wes's), and I think it's something we should start thinking about. The sad reality is that there aren't many options in our country for sweatshop-free clothing. I think that it'll be awesome if someday we boycott the companies who use child/exploited labor. Nothing will change them until they aren't making money off of us. It reminds me of Martin Luther King's brilliant bus boycott--he knew he couldn't change racist minds, so he rallied to stop giving them money, and the bus systems were seriously affected.

Here's a small snippit in the la times about EDUN.

p.s you'll be happy to know that the YE shirts we had printed are organic and sweatshop-free!