It’s more than just a shirt, it’s a just shirt.
Guest Post by Lou Charest, CRS Adviser for University Engagement ([email protected])
When I think of fair trade, I think of justice, peace and right relationships. This makes fair trade an awesome way to consume. We’re all consumers anyway, and how we purchase and live affects the people around the world. It is hard to not be a consumer, so fair trade is an alternate path where you can express yourself and your beliefs. By committing to promote just wages and livings standards by doing things that you do anyway like buying coffee and clothes and chocolate, you demonstrate global purchasing power done in a fair and just way. I think that’s really powerful.
As an employee of CRS and someone who educates university students about fair trade and issues that affect livelihoods and dignity, I think it’s important to be authentic and live those values out, both personally and professionally. When it came time to train our campus ambassadors, the one promotional piece we decided to give them was polo shirts. After talking with the fair trade team, we learned of ways we could source fairly traded shirts.
At the time, this hadn’t been done before at CRS. It was a long process – we had to get quotes from multiple fair trade vendors to ensure we were being good stewards of our resources, and it was often slow going because all of these vendors were new to our purchasing department. It was a new experience, and not always easy, but it was valuable experience, both for me and for CRS. We are now regularly able to purchase from fair trade apparel vendors, and it’s good to know in our small way that when we decide how to spend our limited resources that we can redirect them back to women in places like India who want to earn a just wage and work in dignity. Our particular shirts came from HAE now, and it’s a great product. It’s much more than just a shirt, it’s a just shirt. It represents our values and how we choose to exist in this world. Since then, CRS has been able to source shirts from Alta Gracia, Maggie’s Organics, as well as several EthixMerch vendors.
Fair trade reflects our values as Catholics, and sharing them makes an immediate difference to workers around the world and gives them the ability to have a fair, just, and sustainable livelihood. Our choices have a long term impact on our economic system and the planet, and by participating in fair trade, the better things are for everyone.
I’m grateful for the opportunity to work with so many university students every day who are passionate, idealistic and committed to ideas of social and economic justice. Their efforts in promoting things like fair trade create substantive and lasting change. There are now six Fair Trade Colleges and Universities that are Catholic, and two of them, Cabrini College and the University of San Diego, are also partners of CRS. Working with those students is a joy, and I thank them (and you!) for your dedication to fair trade. Keep it up!
I am so excited to come across your article. My children go to a catholic school that requires a uniform. A polo shirt is part of the uniform, and I have been trying to find information on fairly made shirts to present to the school to encourage values that are already important to the school community. I will look into the companies you mentioned in this article. If you have any further information or sources of information, I would really appreciate any input. Thank you!