Comments (20)

• Dan Coleman

  Thanks for the article. I have a few friends that constantly praise Bono for "using greedy American consumerism" for good forces. I have a hard time persuading them that (a) Bono isn't doing as much as they think he is, and (b) whatever Bono is doing has already been done for years by other companies.

  Now that I've got some of the metrics in front of me it will be a little easier to offer substance to the debate.

  Published: April 5, 2007 8:21 AM

• Manuel Lora

  In the name of love
  What more in the name of love...

  Published: April 5, 2007 8:40 AM

• Yumi

  Good one, he recently received an honorary knighthood for his efforts... http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6507065.stm

  Published: April 5, 2007 8:43 AM

• Bill

  $275 a pair? You wonder why people buy knockoffs probably made in the same factory for $15 a pair.

  Published: April 5, 2007 8:44 AM

• Francisco Torres

  $275 a pair? You wonder why people buy knockoffs probably made in the same factory for $15 a pair.

  I am sure Bono would be the first to complain about knockoffs, most likely by invoking faux codes like Intellectual Property or other market-limiting scheme.

  Published: April 5, 2007 10:47 AM

• Geoffrey Allan Plauche

  One of my favorite salad dressings is a kind of caeser vinaigrette dressing made by Newman's Own, which gives its profits to charity. I love Newman's motto: "Shameless exploitation in pursuit of the common good."

  Published: April 5, 2007 2:13 PM

• Som

  Let's hope Bono doesn't later pride himself for setting the course of "middle class" Africa when he has to substantially raise wages to save money on turnover and retraining costs. With enough sweatshops around, it's bound to happen. Ford did it when he raised wages to $5/day (1920 something) and he had the nerve to say that he brought about middle class America. Please!

  Is it just me, or does the leftist almost ALWAYS take the benefits of capitalism and claim them as the result of their screwed up policies?
  

  Published: April 5, 2007 2:51 PM

• Mr.huh?

  "Is it just me, or does the leftist almost ALWAYS take the benefits of capitalism and claim them as the result of their screwed up policies?"

  It's not just you. I remember once hearing of a book called "The Good Old Days: They Were Terrible" in which among other things, it was pointed out that horses from horse-drawn carriages crapped in the streets all the time, making a huge mess and when I went to read the reviews on Amazon, someone pointed out to me that we should thank the government regulations for making the streets clean of said horsecrap, as if it was government and not some capitalist entrepreneur who made the automobile. And also, is that really the logo for Newman's Own, because if so that I have got to hand it to the man for having some wit to boot.

  Published: April 5, 2007 4:44 PM

• Christopher Hettinger

  Mr.Huh? -

  Yes, is is the slogan, I just looked it up. Very nice.
  

  Published: April 5, 2007 6:39 PM

• George Smiley

  More sweatshops in Lesotho? Why not bring those people here and price our own labour market to perfection. While we're at it throw in some $400 a month Bengla Deshi economists to replace you guys. We import Chinese welders and I buy my jeans at the goodwill for $5 a pop, exporting deflation back to Lesotho.
  Here's a nobel prize for you - what if we are locked into some crazy biological pattern that supplies ever more labourers than required by demand. What if they get antsy when they can't even feed themselves on their falling incomes and go outside of markets to war, revolution, and crime. What if climate change and soil depletion disrupt supply without any ham-handed legislative interference?

  Published: April 6, 2007 4:28 AM

• Joseph Huang

  What if climate always changes? What if climate change is cause by the sun?

  Published: April 6, 2007 11:17 AM

• RogerM

  George: "...what if we are locked into some crazy biological pattern that supplies ever more labourers than required by demand. What if they get antsy when they can't even feed themselves on their falling incomes and go outside of markets to war, revolution, and crime."

  No need to imagine what if, the scenario you describe was reality from the pre-history until the advent of capitalism. Malthus described it. Poor farming technology limited the supply of food, which limited population size through famines.

  What happened in the 17th century to change that? Capitalism. The sad thing is that the starvation that characterizes the 3rd world is so unnecessary.

  "What if climate change and soil depletion disrupt supply without any ham-handed legislative interference?"

  Again, that scenario describes the natural state of mankind for thousands of years. How did some of us escape? Capitalism brought greater wealth which financed new technology to overcome climate change and soil depletion. Where is soil depletion the worst? Among the very poorest of the world who practice slash-and-burn farming. Where is soil depletion almost non-existent? The US, among the largest exporters of food in the world.
  

  Published: April 6, 2007 11:50 AM

• Scott

  I'm not looking to praise Bono here, but wasn't the whole point of this business venture to locate factories in countries that already have high standards wage and working age laws? I think they want to send the message to the third world that they will do business with you if you have a system in place to "protect" your workers.

  Published: April 6, 2007 12:43 PM

• Bridget

  Any enterprise -- especially one that aspires to set a higher set of ethical
  standards -- will face challenges and obstacles along the way. EDUN is dedicated to making a better way of doing business work for workers.  EDUN has engaged Verite - http://www.verite.org
  http://www.verite.org  - to assist EDUN in developing a best in class
  program that reflects the core goals of our company. We have made a
  commitment as a company to invest the resources and engage the partnerships
  to enable us to best realize our goals. We not only want to share our learnings as we move along, but to learn from others who are passionate about improving prospects for workers every step of the way. Dialogue is critical to such progress.

  Regarding this article there are a number of inaccuracies that
  I would like to address.

  First, EDUN does not produce denim in Lesotho and EDUN has not produced any
  goods in Lesotho since Oct 2006.

  Beginning in May, EDUN will ship only t-shirts out of a factory in Maseru that will be fully engaged in
  the EDUN monitoring and supplier support program we have developed with
  Verite.

  On the issue of wages in factories, we are currently traveling with Verite to gather
  information, orient our suppliers to EDUN's standards and identify ways in
  which to ensure that each of our suppliers can meet those standards. A
  priority is to ensure that all EDUN production workers are paid according to
  law, for both regular and any OT hours. 

  Please stay tuned to EDUN's website http://www.edun.ie
  www.edun.ie.  as our program proceeds and information from our visits to
  suppliers begins to come in. We thank you for continuing to raise these
  important issues and giving us the chance to clarify misreports. Public scrutiny is key, as is the exchange of accurate information. We
  welcome any inputs as we seek creative and sustainable solutions within the
  framework of launching the EDUN clothing line.

  Sincerely,
  EDUN

  Published: April 6, 2007 3:51 PM

• Vedran Vuk

  Dear Mises.org Readers,

  There are a few things that should be commented on regarding Edun's above statement.

  First, the sources for this article regarding Edun's wages were pulled from Edun's website during the Summer of 2006. Thabang Kholumo's statements regarding wages and workers are from an article LINKED to Edun's own website! I don't understand how this can be inaccurate, if the company itself had the link on their website.

  Second, this article was written in the late Summer of 2006 and has only reached publication now. I was not aware of Edun's decision to stop manufacturing goods in Lesotho during October 2006.

  Perhaps, I myself fell prey to Bono and Ali's promises. Afterall, the Edun website says:

  "EDUN is a socially conscious clothing company launched in Spring 2005 by Ali Hewson and Bono with New York clothing designer Rogan Gregory.

  The company's mission is to help increase trade and create sustainable employment for developing areas of the world with an emphasis on Africa, providing a business model that others can replicate and follow."

  Did anyone catch the part that says, "....and create sustainable employment." If I had known about this decision earlier, I would have gladly put this fact into my article.

  This is another questionable issue regarding Edun's clothing line. What is sustainable about starting a business in the Spring of 2005 and stopping the production of products in Lesotho by October 2006. This seems to be another aspect of Edun's mission laying unfulfilled while the workers of Lesotho stand high and dry.

  From researching information for this article, I discovered that the a major complaint amongst Lesotho textile workers was the unsustainable employment. Workers complained about Chinese factories that would disappear overnight to relocate somewhere else. It seems that this may be the case with Edun as well.

  I would also like to thank Edun for acknowledging this article. I hope that Edun understands that I feel their work is important in helping the lives of impoverished people. I just don't think that their plan is a business model much different from other factories in the area. I also hope that the company or perhaps Bono himself can learn something from reading this article and other excellent pieces on mises.org regarding world trade and sweatshops. I wish Edun great success in business and hope that their factories produce many jobs for impoverished people in third world countries especially Africa.

  Best Regards,

  Vedran Vuk

  Published: April 6, 2007 7:10 PM

• Vanmind

  Yeah, Bridget, why does EDUN appear to be so unethical?

  Published: April 7, 2007 2:40 PM

• Anthony Gregory

  Go Vedran! Go free trade!!

  Published: April 7, 2007 11:48 PM

• Yumi

  "EDUN is dedicated to making a better way of doing business work for workers."

  This alone suggests EDUN is not a business enterprise. A true entrepreneur serves customers, not workers.

  Published: April 10, 2007 7:38 AM

• Nicole

  "This alone suggests EDUN is not a business enterprise. A true entrepreneur serves customers, not workers."

  If they're not serving both in at least some way they won't be in business for very long. No one works for free.

  Interesting article, although there seem to be some points still up in the air in regard to facts. I'll be interested to see how that pans out. Overall I thought there were some good points raised, although I take a bit of issue with the following statement:

  "What is forgotten, however, is that free trade is exactly what leftist anti-sweatshop activists like Bono are against!"

  This seems to be almost a straw-man argument. To my knowledge, Bono has never spoken out against free trade. Quite the contrary, he speaks often on developing trade in Africa. I disagree with declaring that Bono is against this and then pointing out his supposed hypocrisy in supporting it without any supporting evidence that this is in fact the case.

  Published: April 22, 2007 5:22 PM

• Living Wage Clothing

  Fair trade is a lot more complicated than it seems and is barely existant in developing nations. U.S. companies have to almost create their own fair trade factories to ensure these standards are being met. Additionally, the definition of fair trade is under great debate on the inside.

  Is the implication here that Bono and his clan are purposely trying to exploit workers to make a financial gain? Doesn't anyone give him any ethical credit for all the work he's done so far with so many other social causes?

  As people that understand the complexities of all this, there needs to be a little more ethical credit assigned to individuals trying to do this -- even if they're rich.

  Published: May 12, 2007 7:57 AM