Caramel designs children's campaign t-shirt for EJF

EJF will launch the latest of it's exclusive designer campaign t-shirts at the new kids trade show, Bubble London, on January 22nd & 23rd 2008 to raise awareness and support for our work.

Designed by renowned baby can children's designer, Caramel, the fairly traded organic cotton t-shirt has been designed around the theme of “childhood, lost innocence and hope” to represent more than a million children around the world forced to labour in cotton production.

Visitors to Bubble London will be able to get hold of the exclusive t-shirt designed by Caramel and take action at the trade-event to make sure the cotton they buy is more sustainably and ethically produced.

Six of the world’s top seven cotton producers have been reported to use child labour in their cotton fields. In India, several hundred thousand children – mostly girls – sacrifice their education and health to produce hybrid cottonseed for a thriving industry.

“Global cotton production is worth in the region of US$40 billion annually,” Juliette Williams, Programme Director of EJF, says. “But it is effectively subsidised by children earning at most $2 a day, if anything at all, for their back-breaking contribution. Worse, in the world’s third largest cotton exporter, Uzbekistan, child labour is state-sponsored.”

The Environmental Justice Foundation will use their stand hosted by Bubble London to sell the t-shirt to buyers and distribute information to designers and press about the cotton campaign. EJF aims to establish an EU Regulation prohibiting the importation of cotton or cotton products, made using forced child labour.

Vanessa Boz, Co-Founder, Bubble says “As a trade show innovator, we feel strong about Bubble's role to make the kids market a better place, and a more ethical environment. By supporting EJF in its cotton campaign, we hope to raise consciousness in the kids trade industry that sadly, cotton still comes all too often from countries using child labour.”

Eva Karayiannis, Founder, Caramel says “I believe that whilst we live in a corporate world, it is possible to run a commercially successful business, driven by intuition, creativity and passion. Caramel has proven this over the past seven years without following conventional business models. We create our own adventure. It is nice not to know where the journey ends.”