Emma Watson for People Tree

The Ivy League college student, Emma Watson has recently announced her collaboration with People Tree, a fair trade clothing company. Watson worked closely with the in-house design team to create her gorgeous collection, “Love from Emma” which we are excited to say will be released on the 28^th of February 2011. The line is young with cute message tees, short shorts, nautical stripes, spring colours and Ralph Lauren-esque woollens.

The 20 year-old British Beauty met People Tree CEO Safia Minney 18-months ago, where they started discussing the possibility of combining Watson’s love for fashion great personal style and young perspective to increase awareness among young people on the importance of buying fair trade clothing.

“I met Safia about 18 months ago, and we started talking about me doing a collection for People Tree. The timing was right. It’s hard to know what is good and what is bad on the high street and equally hard to find fashionable or youthful ethical clothing. I don’t want to wear something on my body that hurts the environment or the people in it. I wanted to put together a collection I could be proud of in terms of both ethics and design. It shocks me that even today only one per cent of cotton produced in the world is Fair Trade and organic.”
–Emma Watson–

For the most part, Watson’s role is to bring positive attention to the company, and get young people onboard and aware of the issues. People Tree works with 50 Fair Trade groups in 15 countries to ensure that every step of their clothing production process is Fair Trade and ecologically sound. Most of their cotton is certified organic, dyes are natural, and they try to source natural or recycled products locally when possible. It’s important to note that almost all of People Tree’s clothes are made by hand – hand weaving and hand embroidery, both of which increase the number of women employed in developing countries.

Watson recently travelled to India to see firsthand the difference fair trade makes. The CEO Minney went with Watson to Dhaka, Bangladesh to meet the women workers at Swallows, one of People Tree’s Fair Trade partners. Watson comments on her experience:

“ When I went to the slums in Dhaka and saw what the conditions are like for the people who work in factories…it’s just the most horrible thing I’ve seen. I don’t think that’s a sustainable business model or way to carry on working in developing worlds… We interviewed that woman living in the slums at Dhaka, and she was very honest about the fact that there was no hope for her… There’s no way out of that kind of poverty. Seeing [Swallows], it’s such a relief… thank God there’s an alternative.”

Swallows provides work for over 200 women. They sew, hand-weave, stitch, dye and embroider for a living, and the profits help cover the Swallows school for 320 children and a daycare centre. In contrast, women who work in the factory slums in Bangladesh often live hundreds of miles away from their children, but Swallows families remain together. Making clothes by hand for People Tree allows the maximum number of women to be employed, whereas modern methods of clothing production tend to create fewer jobs in sweat-shop conditions.

Watson points out, “as wonderful as charity is, that money runs out…charities aren’t as sustainable as good business, and by supporting business that do good, all of us can help people across the world build better lives for themselves.”

“I was excited by the idea of using fashion as a tool to help alleviate poverty,” says Watson. “I think young people like me are becoming increasingly aware of the humanitarian and environmental issues surrounding fast fashion.”

The People Tree “Love from Emma” collection is available on peopletree.co.uk, asos.com and selected John Lewis stores in the UK in less than four weeks!

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