Katharine Hamnett Pulls Out of Tesco
by Bonnie Alter, London on 10. 1.07
Last year, amidst much fanfare, Katharine Hamnett, the original eco-warrior fashionista, announced that she was teaming up with Tesco, the biggest and much reviled supermarket, to produce a fair trade and organic line called Choose Love. All of the supermarkets have been rushing to improve their green credentials and this partnership seemed like a win-win: a real coup for Tesco, given Hamnett's impeccable reputation, and good for her since she had been starting her business up again, after a hiatus.
However, naivete and the realities of business seem to have destroyed her dream of bringing organic, fair trade clothes to the mass market. Hamnett said: ‘I was initially really excited about the tie-up because I thought we could increase demand for ethical products. But I’ve come to the conclusion that [Tesco] simply wants to appear ethical, rather than make a full commitment to the range. Choose Love is only available in 40 stores and the merchandising is practically non-existent.’ She added that she was "incredibly disappointed" and claimed that Tesco had broken promises to roll out her Choose Love range and promote it in store. Maybe she shouldn't have been so surprised; a recent report by War on Want about the appalling working conditions of garment workers in developing countries pointed out that "the £4.6 million in salary and bonuses for Tesco’s chief executive Sir Terry Leahy could pay the annual wages of more than 25,000 Bangladeshi garment employees who supply its stores, based on average wages of about £15 a month." :: Daily Telegraph
Ummm, not to be "that guy" but why is it that the photo selected of this person has her standing around holding a disposable coffee cup?
This has to be the most unflattering photo of someone who is supposed to be an "eco-warrior".
Cigarette in one hand, disposable coffee cup in another.
Nasty.
A "disposable" cup is only disposable if you dispose of it. How do you know that she hasn't had that cup for a month?
You can dispose of styrofoam cups for 30 days to equal the net energy and emissions of one paper cup. 3 months for a ceramic cup. And 2 years for a stainless steel travel mug.
cigarette smoking is good for the environment as it kills off its polluting, procreating user faster.
She may have an "impeccable reputation", but apparently only because she's trendy.
Your wonderful photograph shows her drinking from a disposable paper cup, holding a mass-produced cigarette while the article features her whin(g)ing that Tesco's not selling enough of her product.
I remember the old days when "littering" and "airborne particulates" were considered big environmental issues. Apparently, in our new "only carbon matters" world, having the ever present cigarette whose chlorine-bleached, virgin forest paper and intensively fertilized, pesticided GM tobacco goes up in smoke and whose tar-stained filter is invariably just dropped onto the street is fine - "impeccable" no less!
Not only is she giving (some) work to third world folks working on her clothing line, but she keeps ecological volunteers busy too. According to the Ocean Conservancy's final report on the International Coastal Cleanup day, cigarettes and their filters made up 24.7% of everything picked up that day - two and a half times as much as the next biggest one, which was - disposable food containers! Thank you, so much, smokers and coffee drinkers of the world. Thank you, thank you, Katharine!
HA, brennan! great points.
also, it may be contradictory that an environmentalist smokes, but are we all not without our vices? i know beer drinking cigarette smoking punks that have a lighter e-footstep than compassionate whole foods shopping yuppies who drive hybrids! pick yer battles