Ohio State students will soon be given the opportunity to know where their T-shirts were made.
Edun LIVE, a clothing company founded by Bono and his wife, Ali Hewson, will be rolling out a program at OSU beginning in the fall.
In conjunction with Edun LIVE, the department of consumer sciences is offering a course where students will learn about and discuss the ethical production and consumption of goods.
According to the Edun LIVE's Web site, it is a socially conscious T-shirt distribution company that provides employment in sub-Saharan Africa. The company creates strictly blank T-shirts for wholesale distribution. The shirts are then customized and resold.
Since its launch in 2005, Edun LIVE has expanded to college campuses.
"I believe Edun LIVE wanted to bring their clothing to college campuses so they could start impacting a larger scale of people," said Jacque Rupert, president of Edun LIVE on campus, in an e-mail.
College students are involved in many organizations, a majority of which buy customized T-shirts, she said.
"It only made sense to start gaining interest in the college market," Rupert said.
In 2006, Miami University was the first expansion campus. OSU will be its second.
Rupert said the program was extremely successful at Miami. It has sold 7,000 T-shirts and had a significant response from students, faculty and staff.
Edun LIVE expects to have the same success when it rolls out the program at OSU.
They hope to work with student organizations. There will also be booths at various OSU events and, depending on the success of the program, a large official kick-off might be held later in the year, Rupert said.
The organization also will be collaborating with Consumer Sciences 694. The course is a serving learning course, said Golden Jackson, the instructor for the course. Some of the class time will be devoted to Edun LIVE and some time will be required outside of the class, Jackson said.
Student response has been about as expected. There are currently 14 students enrolled in the course, which is about the same as Miami had when its program began, said Beth Kaltenbach, an active member of the Edun LIVE at OSU team, in an e-mail. There are open seats in the course and students are welcome to join, but more advertising is not expected before the quarter starts, she said.
"We're hoping more students will get interested and want to take the course in the future," Kaltenbach said.
John Gerbich can be reached at gerbich.2@osu.edu.
2008 Woodie Awards
Viewing Comments 1 - 7 of 7
Katie Andrews
posted 8/16/07 @ 11:04 AM EST
I am very excited to see this socially-responsible project on OSU's campus. Hopefully it will encourage student groups, sports teams and colleges/depts on campus to think about the shirts they wear every day and how simple and inexpensive it is to purchase socially responsible clothing that ensures quality and ensures that workers are being paid a fair wage for their work. (Continued…)
Mark
posted 8/16/07 @ 1:40 PM EST
What's next. Paul Stanley art for a degree?
sammi fredenburg
posted 8/17/07 @ 3:06 AM EST
This is great great news. Bono and Ali Hewson have been front-runners in responsible dignified employment in Lethoso, hand in hand with AGOA. Edun LIVE is a wonderful way to put fair trade cotton shirts on our college and high school students, a wonderfully successful project, i wish them the best. (Continued…)
I.P.
posted 8/17/07 @ 7:36 AM EST
"Ohio State students will soon be given the opportunity to know where their T-shirts were made."
Thank goodness! I can now sleep at night!
I don't quite understand this 'class'. (Continued…)
jpe
posted 8/20/07 @ 11:07 AM EST
If they want to see where the shirt was made, why not just look at the tag?
nick
posted 8/22/07 @ 2:25 PM EST
Geeeez......
Amazing how people can be led like sheep.
Do you people even realize that Bono dosent give a tiny rats butt about anything except selling cds?
Beth
posted 9/14/07 @ 2:10 AM EST
In response to the comments above:
I.P, The class is solely an elective right now and does not count toward major or GEC requirements. The class is also more than just learning about ethical production/consumption of goods. (Continued…)
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