
Miami University’s Farmer School of Business has announced the official launch of ‘edun LIVE on Campus’, by its Center for Social Entrepreneurship. The new student run business creates partnerships between edun LIVE, a socially conscious clothing brand, and other colleges interested in promoting and selling the edun LIVE label, to help African-American trade.
Originally run as a pilot program last autumn, edun LIVE on Campus helps students learn about sustainable development, through the promotion and sale of edun LIVE on Campus printed T-shirts. Miami University and edun LIVE are hoping their prototype business models will help other colleges to adopt similar initiatives.
A sub-brand of Edun Apparel Ltd, a socially conscious clothing company founded by singer Bono and his wife Ali Hewson in 2005, Edun LIVE manufactures 100% African t-shirts. Grown and sewn wholly in Africa, and then sold as blanks for merchandising, edun LIVE is hoping that high volume sales will increase African employment opportunities.
“edun LIVE had been looking for a solution to sell high volumes of t-shirts in the college market,” said Edun CEO, Christian Kemp-Griffin. “When the Farmer School’s Center for Social Entrepreneurship approached me, one thing led to the next and an innovative idea emerged.” Bono’s wife, Ali Hewson, said she is pleased to see such an active role being played by the students.
Brett Smith, an assistant proffessor with the Center for Social Entrepreneurship, and the initiator of the edun LIVE on Campus program, believes that social consciousness is dramatically increasing. He says that to date, they have sold more than 1,500 customised printed T-shirts, and that several hundred of them feature the slogan ‘I know who made my t-shirt. Do you?’ He is expecting the number of sales to grow significantly once word gets out of what they are doing, and why.
Copyright Image © ‘dewald’ at www.sxc.hu