EJF is a UK-based charity dedicated to partnering, training and supporting non-violent, grassroots environment and human rights campaigners and local communities in the developing world.

And during last week’s London Fashion Week, the charity teamed up with designers Betty Jackson, Christian Lacroix and Luella Bartley to create fairly traded and organic cotton t-shirts - with all proceeds going to EJF’s ‘Cotton Campaign’ to end forced child labour in global cotton production.

“The Cotton Campaign highlights the problems of forced child labour, deadly pesticide use in cotton production and irresponsible draining of water resources, and it pushes for positive solutions for farmers, their families and their environments,” explains Larissa. “As consumers we can be pro-active on these issues, we can ask our retailers to pick their cotton carefully and we can demand a change.”

EJF is no stranger to the world of fashion, having already worked with designer and environmental activist Katharine Hamnett as well as supermodel and Global Cooler Lily Cole.

But according to the charity, the West’s love affair with cheap t-shirts and jeans carries a high cost for the developing world. The Cotton Campaign has been designed as a response to this problem, promoting organic cotton as a sustainable alternative and means to empower producers.

“Organic cotton has a lasting, direct and positive impact both now and in the future – for both people and the planet,” says Larissa. “Organic cotton production is the only farming system by which cotton is produced entirely free of chemical pesticides – and thereby without the risks that such chemicals pose to human health and the environment. It also means a more sustainable way of producing cotton for small farmers in the developing world.”

For ‘Cotton Campaign’ t-shirts and more information, click here.

For Global Cool’s planet saving t-shirts, which are made from 100% organic cotton, click here.