Bono’s Clothing Line: Major Financial Suckage
Back in 2005, in a battle against sweatshops and poor treatment of foreign garment workers, Bono and his wife set up Edun (yes, that’s “nude” spelled backwarks), an ethical clothing manufacturer. It’s decent stuff, too. And the workers who make it are properly compensated.
The problem is that the company is a money pit. Over the last year, Edun has lost $7.8 million. The year before that, the company lost $8.5 million.
But Bono has lots of money, of course. Edun’s board of directors have stated that they are “very satisfied with progress during the year, which was in line with strategic business plan projections.”
Maybe if they had a proper website they’d sell more stuff.
(Via Larry and Contact Music)
Need to befriend me a major rockstar for a pet project that can break all the rules of business and secure a leisurely lifestyle losing money for them. Just the fact they didn't spend the relative pittance to have a web presence speaks volumes. Obviously the idea of it appealed but attention drifted what with all the international celebrities needing convincing to join causes and all. Oh, sorry, did that sound cynical?
The notion of fair trade for clothing has been coming into it's own recently with the horrifying stories out of Bangladesh, and they should have had an established presence, but instead just come off as amateur. This should be playing out like the coffee industry, where at least there's dialog and fair trade can compete on some level with the mainstream.
We have to plan business well,before we execute.