Italy: Coop launches a fair trade shirt

Coop (Consumers Co-operative) has launched a new fair trade textile product in supermarkets: the fair trade shirt, made in India. The fair trade shirts are 100% cotton, their price is 19.90 euros and 60.000 of them have been produced. Cotton for the shirts is cultivated by Indian farmers, while 85 women in Kerala (South of India) produce the shirts. Shirts are hand made in Kerala in a small factory. It is the result of a solidarity project realized by Coop in cooperation with the Tuscany Missionary Centres. Part of the profits made in the factory are used to pay the families of the women who have sawn the shirts, another part is for the women?s co-operative. Coop shirt is part of the BioRe project which uses cotton from organic agriculture and gives many advantages to Indian farmers dealing with planting and harvesting. After five years of participation to the project Indian farmers can become shareholders of the company which buys cotton. Up until March 2006 more than 300 Central Indian farmers have received each for free 100 BioRe shares. Farmers will also receive professional training and low interest rate financing. www.e-coop.it