For just £3 the choice is yours and the price is ….. WRONG. Even if they’re made in modern factories paying fair wages and don’t include beading – a child labour speciality – it’s wrong.

Sainsbury’s are not making a living by selling t-shirts at that price. M&S sold several million at £3.50 last year, presumably running them as a loss-leader.

The outcome
We now buy t-shirts like chocolate bars and stack (or stuff) them into colourful piles in our wardrobes – because they’re cheap enough to not really think about whether we need them or not.

What then must we do?
When I talked to the Fairtrade Foundation in 2003, I assured them that people would value the limited amount of Fairtrade cotton getting grown around the globe each year. I told them that the people wanting to use it, like us at Gossypium, would want to make something of lasting value with such lovely cotton fibre. We ask that you show respect for the Fairtrade cotton you buy by only buying what you need and keeping it for a very long time.

The thing is…..
Fast clothing, just like fast food, is for people who are in a hurry to destroy our beautiful planet. So take a deep breath, hold your beautiful Fairtrade cotton t-shirt in your hands and promise to be friends with it for a very long time.

Here’s a bedtime story to illustrate what the supermarkets are doing with their t-shirt prices.
Remember a story called Little Babaji? It’s about a little kiddie in the jungle who gets asked for his clothes by four different tigers. He gives them each something, even though they can’t actually wear them. Not happy that the other tigers have part of what they want, they lock themselves into a circle around a tree, each grabbing hold of the other one’s tail, and they run in an increasingly frenzied circle – eventually melting into a pool of butter.

Sainsbury’s adverts for their piles of £3 t-shirts, and the link to M&S’s from last year, makes me think of this story. We at Gossypium have no intention of chasing anyone’s tail with crashed prices. We will be taking our time to make products you can afford to keep and enjoy for years.

Get with the beat and make lasting decisions!
Abi

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