e - Spotlight Promotions

creative living •
Changing lives
one stitch at a time
This bag is hand-made
and fair labour item lovingly
created by women in the
Stitch In Time
program in Cambodia.
Jan Breen Burns,
fashion editor, The Age
because it combines two things I loved
- fashion and sustainability. I don’t
know who first coined it but bravo to
them!”
In Deana’s mind the popularity
of environmentally conscious labels
shows that consumers care about
the story behind the creation of their
garment. “We are conscious of the
food we eat so why not think about
what we wear in the same light?”
she asks.
After the catastrophic 2010
earthquake in Haiti American designer,
Donna Karan, visited the island,
looking for ways to help the community
use its natural resources and artisans
to get back on its feet. As she wrote
in a blog on her website, “ ... the
vision for Haiti is simple: help Haiti
help itself ... create business models
that can be properly marketed and
distributed throughout the US and
Europe. As an American designer and
businesswoman, I have a good sense
of what makes a product desirable
to the western consumer”. Donna’s
spring 2012 collection was all Haitian
inspired, assisted by famous Haitian
artist Philippe Dodard.
Last year Dame Vivienne
Westwood, now 70, turned her
attention to the people of Nairobi.
She described the endeavour as, “Not
charity, just work” and created the
Ethical Fashion Africa Collection of
handbags and totes using everything
from old rubber thongs to roadside
advertising banners and old tent
fabric. The bags are available online.
The collection was produced in
collaboration with The Ethical Fashion
Programme, a joint agency of the
United Nations and the World Trade
Organisation, which connects some of
the world’s most marginalised people
to fashion’s international movers and
shakers. It enables communities of
artisans and micro-manufacturers -
the majority of them women - to thrive
in association with the talents of the
fashion world. •
LINKS
• www.cleanclothes.org
• www.pollyandme.com
• www.fairlabor.org
Spotlight and
Fair Trade
Spotlight’s Stitch in Time bags,
available in your local Spotlight
store, are made by women living
in impoverished circumstances in
various regions.
Spotlight first took sewing
machines and sewing teachers
overseas (to Uganda) via its Stitch
in Time (SIT) programme in 2008.
Since then Cambodia, Vietnam and
Australia’s Northern Territory have
all become involved. Down the track
Nepal and Kabul could also receive
SIT centres.
As Spotlight’s director of
marketing, Jono Gelfand, says,
“The idea is to empower these
women to make an income. We
enter into commercial and fair trade
agreements where, for instance,
the sewers in Cambodia make
1,000 bags per month. Our aim is
that we are simply their first clients
and, once people see the work the
women are capable of, they can
grow their business.” •
@ www.spotlight.com.au/
community-support
Get Creative Quarterly Autumn 2012 65