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Miami Students Design Clothes Pro-"Bono"

Lauren Beeler

Who knew that a job selling T-shirts through a business fraternity could land a gig with Bono?

Not Andy Mitchelides.

Eight weeks ago Mitchelides, a senior at Miami University, was talking to a friend outside the entrepreneurship office about his former job at a T-shirt company, when instructor of entrepreneurship Brett Smith overheard him. Smith quickly called Mitchelides into his office where he pitched an idea that would not only change Mitchelides' life, but thousands of people's across the world.

Smith explained Edun Live to Mitchelides, a company created in 2005 by Ali Hewson, the wife of U2 singer Bono.

According to Smith, the company manufactures blank, basic T-shirts that are bought to be printed on and sold. The T-shirts are made in Lesotho, Africa, a landlocked country, completely surrounded by the Republic of South Africa. Most of Lesotho's economy revolves around trade with South Africa and because of this, has a particularly weak economy.

However Edun Live's T-shirt orders allow a Lesotho factory to give its workers a living wage - an uncommon practice both in Lesotho and the entire continent of Africa. The goal of Edun Live is to slowly build Lesotho's poor economy. The Edun Live project at Miami buys these T-shirts, then designs, prints, and ships them to costumers.

Right away Mitchelides was hooked.

To promote the group's cause, the Edun Live project held a rally at the Hub and Phi Delt gates Wednesday. They also held a discussion Wednesday in conjunction with Program Board about the situation in Lesotho and Edun Live's efforts. The event was held at Oxford's new bar, Tonic.

The initial creation of the Edun Live project occurred almost overnight.

After a few listserv e-mails, a couple class announcements and just by word of mouth, the social venture team was created. According to Mitchelides, Miami is the pilot school for the Edun Live project. Eventually more universities across the country will be involved, each with their own Edun Live project that Mitchelides and other Miami students will help launch.

This group, which was formed in September, is made up of 14 students from diverse academic backgrounds and experiences including such majors as art, political science and finance.

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"It is an amazing opportunity for everyone involved," said Mitchelides, now president of the Edun Live project. "Everyone who is a part of the Edun Live project has a passion for the mission, not just the business. It's all about changing lives and improving the overall utility of life."

Each Edun Live T-shirt is bought as a blank canvas. The Edun Live project at Miami purchases the shirts for $4 from the factory in Lesotho and then, with one of three Miami student graphic designers, comes up with a model for customers. The design is then screen printed onto the T-shirts at Talk of the Town, a printing store in Akron, Ohio, and shipped to customers.

According to the Edun Live Web site, while traveling through Butha Buthe, Lesotho, a few years ago, the current factory owner was stopped by two school principals. The two, distraught with poverty and anger, begged the stranger to open the factory in their community to create new jobs for the area. At the time the factory was not receiving enough work to keep local garment workers employed, and many were forced to find jobs in Lesotho's capital, Maseru. This two-hour trip was time consuming and costly for workers. By placing T-shirt orders through this factory, Edun Live is giving Lesotho the employment they needed with a living wage.

St. Mary's Church in Oxford was the first organization to purchase T-shirts for a church retreat held last month. Associated Student Government (ASG), Program Board and the Senior Legacy Campaign have also placed large orders through Edun Live. Typically T-shirts cost a few dollars more than local screen printers due to the unique situation.

These student organizations use Edun Live not only for their skills, but the cause.

"Andy came to a Program Board executive meeting about a month ago, and after telling us about Edun Live we were all immediately touched and knew we had to be a part," said senior Hilary Chaikin, president of Program Board. "It is purely an organization to help others; it is different than anything we've had before because it really is directly impacting lives."

The Edun Live project is hoping that through further publicity and awareness, other on-campus organizations and community groups will use their services for their future orders.

Their goal is for their business to grow and reach more socially conscious groups, according to Mitchelides.

"We see huge potential at the college market," said Jacque Rupert, campaign director for Edun Live. "Our goal is to sell 3,000 shirts by December."

Lesotho was specifically chosen because of its weak economy and Third World status. According to Mitchelides, this landlocked country has one of the highest HIV and AIDS rates in the world, with 29 percent of the population infected. However few of those afflicted can afford the drugs needed to fight the virus.

But the Edun Live project hopes to help.

"We joke around that we're saving lives one T-shirt at a time, but when you think about it, it's true," Mitchelides said.

According to Mitchelides, the mission of the Edun Live project is to provide long-term sustainable employment in developing countries, although Miami will be aiding only Lesotho. This aid, in turn, helps foster economic growth, rather than provide charity.

"We're promoting trade, not aid," Mitchelides said. "There are a lot of talented people in Africa digging themselves out of a hole. By doing this from the grass roots level we are 100 percent building their economy from the bottom up."

Edun Live is just one example of how social entrepreneurship is expanding on Miami's campus.

"(Social entrepreneurship) all about taking your imagination, creativity and obsession and applying it aggressively to persisting social problems," Smith said, who is now the faculty advisor for the Edun Live project. "This (social entrepreneurship) is catching on so quickly because the social mission resonates with people."

According to Smith, social entrepreneurship creates a profit for a cause rather than a company.

What profit is left from the Edun Live project will go to the Center for Social Entrepreneurship at Miami, however Mitchelides said this profit will probably be about $1 per T-shirt. Over time this money will be used to bring speakers to Miami and develop more socially conscious ventures, said Smith.

"These students have truly started a social venture from the bottom up," Smith said. "In September this was just an idea and today - eight weeks later - it is an up and coming business."

For more information or to order shirts contact Edun Live at edunlive@gmail.com.