Fairtrade doesn't just come in a jar!

To mark Fairtrade fortnight at Newcastle University, one of the events the People & Planet group organised was a Fairtrade fashion show! Megan Crowch shares the experience with P&P....

The audience sat back, kicked off their shoes and enjoyed the free Fairtrade wine and nibbles (well, nearly free - 50p a glass!?) and prepared themselves to marvel at the wonderful clothes about to be flashed before their eyes. Indeed, there was a great variety of styles to be seen, with 12 companies in total lending their clothes for the night including: The Green Apple, Tonic T-shirts, Epona, Gossypium, Bourgeois Boheme, Hug, One World Is Enough, Ralper, Terramar Organics, Sunrise Screenprint workshop, People & Planet, and Fair Fashions. Also present at the fashion show was a local Fairtrade jewellery maker, selling many of her lovely pieces.

Portsmouth P&P’s Fairtrade Fashion back in December

After all the models had flaunted their wears, and could strut no more, the clothes were displayed for sale with keen spectators picking up some veritable bargains (the suppliers were so gracious as to reduce their prices!). Kind thanks go to all the lovely people at these organisations who were very accommodating in the run-up to the show.

It turned out to be a great night with our very own beautiful People & Planet society members adding modelling to their campaigning repertoire, and one or two others kindly offering their services/being roped into it (including our intern from P&P headquarters… a certain William!)!

A Fairtrade fashion show doesn’t take much organising; a few emails to suppliers (whose contact details can be found on the Internet), book a venue, obtain some fairtrade wine from a willing donor, advertise with posters and pamphlets and use P&Per’s for models! Its great fun, the audience love it, and is proof that Fairtrade doesn’t have to come just in a jar.

We would recommend any group out there who is considering getting the word out about Fairtrade clothes, that a fashion show is the way to go!