We’ve just wrapped up ONE’s Next Top T-shirt Challenge and are very excited about the winning design submitted by ONE member Valerie Strecker. We hope these T-shirts can play a part in spreading the word about ONE and the great work ONE members are doing to fight poverty and disease.

A few of you have asked to know more about the T-shirts themselves and their story is definitely worth telling.

The cotton used in the making of the T-shirts is grown in Northern Uganda, by subsistence farmers, who each have approximately five acres of land on which they grow both food and cash crops. The cotton used in the ONE tee’s was harvested from a group of approximately 16,000 certified organic farmers, many of whom lived for years in IDP Camps (internally displaced peoples camps) as a result of the war, and who have only returned to their homes and fields in the past few years. Cotton is planted between May and June and harvesting takes place between December and February.

The cotton is hand-picked by the farmers and then delivered to local store-rooms for later delivery to the ginnery where the seeds and any trash is removed and the remaining fibre is baled. Baled cotton is transported to Kampala, Uganda where it is processed in a factory owned by Phenix Logistics into yarn and then fabric. There are approximately 63 people employed full-time in the spinning, knitting and dyeing sections of the factory. 10 tonnes of fabric (about enough to make 40,000 tees) takes about 2 weeks to produce.

Fabric is delivered to a nearby garment factory where approximately 260 workers produce up to 1000 tee-shirts per day. This factory would be able to employ approximately 1800 people and produce 120,000 tee’s per month if it could secure orders for these volumes, reminding us of the importance of working to expand trade and investment opportunities in the developing world.

Both the textile mill and the garment factory have worked hard to improve worker conditions, both have undergone social compliance pre-audits and are due to be audited for WRAP certification by the end of this year. Apart from fair wages, both factories offer other benefits such as :

• Lunch subsidies
• Employee discounts
• Free Christmas hampers
• First Aid and/or clinics on site with ready access to doctors and hospitals if needed

We’re proud of our T-shirts and we hope you’ll be that much more excited about getting yours from the ONE Store knowing that they not only look great and help fund ONE’s advocacy activities, but also represent an investment in sustainable agriculture and industry in Africa.