By Brittney Bruner
When students find themselves walking through the main entrance of the University Bookstore, there is one item that should catch their eye.
That item is the new edun LIVE tee shirts.
Even though there are posters throughout the store and at various locations across campus, it seems the word hasn’t gotten around about these tee shirts on the University of Louisville campus.
Around the world, however, this is not the case.
According to their Web site, http://edun-live.com, edun LIVE has had over 1.5 million tee shirts manufactured under its brand in the past year and production continues to increase by the day.
And to someone who sees them everyday, Ashley Parsons, a sophomore early elementary education major and employee at the University Bookstore said “They have to be better for some reason… so buy ’em!”
These tee shirts, made from 100 percent organic African cotton and yarn, are not only made of comfortable material, but every purchase made helps support employment opportunities.
This effort promotes trade prospects in the various indigent areas of sub-Saharan Africa, as well.
According to their Web site, each tee shirt is “grower-to-sewer” African which means the company “wants every step of the tee shirt supply chain to occur in sub-Saharan Africa.”
“This leads to jobs, skill transfer and trade on the ground, and helps create a base for a stable and long-term apparel industry.”
Therefore, many people have the chance to work in the process.
As stated on their Web site not only are the sub-Saharan African citizens granted more employment opportunities, they are ensured “a humane, ethical, and respectful environment” to work in and each worker is equally compensated, from farmer to factory worker.
According to the edun LIVE Web site, the significance of organic cotton is beneficial to the consumer because, “organic cotton is cotton that is grown without the use of chemicals or pesticides.”
Their Web site states, the growth of conventional cotton demands 25 percent of the insecticides and 10 percent of the pesticides used around the globe, while the growth of organic cotton leads to less damage to the atmosphere and environment as well as a decrease in human health risk.
An edun LIVE tee shirt is guaranteed organic by the internationally recognized institution known as ECOCERT.
ECOCERT is a company that is in control of certifying organic labels in products ranging from organic food to, in this case, organic tee shirts.
The sayings printed across the chests of these tee shirts vary from “How do you live?” and “I Live to Make a Difference.” to simply “Louisville.”
When asked what they think about the new tee shirts, students usually give a puzzled look.
“The material feels really nice, it’s really soft… I would definitely buy one and love to wear it,” said Sarah Bishop, a freshman psychology major.
In the fall of 2006 edun LIVE decided to partner up with Miami University of Ohio to establish their first ever edun LIVE on Campus (ELOC).
This program, which U of L is now a participant in, is “a socially conscious tee shirt distribution company that works to penetrate the college market.”
The company originated within the Center for Social Entrepreneurship at Miami University. As stated on the edun Web site, the main objective of the organization is not only to sell these tee shirts to college students, but also to raise awareness about how to be “a socially conscious consumer.”
