Fashion can be a very strong force for good. I was about to ask Zayed if I could take her picture when she turned and handed me on of her leaflets, she works for and was promoting a pop up shop on the Beak St end of Carnaby Street which is selling designer, designed t-shirts the sale of which are helping to protect the natural environment and defend human rights. 11 designers, Alice Temperley, Richard Nicoll, Jenny Packham, Ciel, Giles Deacon, Allegra Hicks, John Rocha, Zandra Rhodes, Luella, Betty Jackson, Christian Lacroix and Katharine Hamnett, have joined forces with
EJF and have designed a t-shirt on the theme of childhood and lost innocence. I was shocked to find out that in the 21st Century in parts of the world forced labour is still used to pick cotton. In Uzbekistan alone hundreds of thousands of children are focibly conscripted to harvest the country's annual cotton crop. A crop which earns Uzbekistan (the worlds 3rd largest cotton exporter and the 6th largest producer) 1billion USD yet, the children who do not live close to the cotton fields live in squalid conditions, often lacking basic nutrition and are exposed to harmful pesticides. The children receive little or no payment for their labour yet they are expected to pay for their food. It can be different, which is why the t-shirts are made from organic and fairly traded continental cotton, the proceeds from their sale support the charity's work. The t-shirts are beautiful. Zayed is wearing the one by Allegra Hicks. I bought the John Rocha one. Zayed told me the shop should be there for the next 6 weeks at least - so know you Pick Your Cotton Carefully by going along to Carnaby Street or buy online
ejfoundation.org/shop and pick up one of their t-shirts.
