Amana Bwindi Charity T-shirt Review

Typical price:

£30

We like:

The fit; the organic certification; the fair trade creds; the charitable aspect

We don't like:

That it's only available in grey; lack of Fairtrade certification (independent auditing)

SmartPlanet judgement:

This t-shirt ticks nearly all our boxes: organic, fair trade, charitable, comfortable, stylish, versatile… but we do pay for it all, too. If it came in more colours than grey and had a Fairtrade certification, it would be our ideal t-shirt.

Score:

Contact:

Nice Car Company at http://www.amana-collection.com/
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7209 4818

Right from the moment organic and fair trade brand Amana announced the arrival of the Bwindi charity t-shirt, we got really excited about the idea and when we got our hands on it, we weren't disappointed.

The Amana designers, Helen Wood and Erin Tabrar, came up with the ingenious idea of designing a grey, V-neck jersey top with fluted sleeves (a fit that would suit skinny and not-so-skinny girls) in 90 per cent organic cotton and ten per cent spandex. They had them made fair trade by the Morrocan women who they've worked with since the beginning of Amana.

The icing on the cake is that 100 per cent of the profits generated from the sale of these t-shirts go to the Bwindi Community Health Centre in Uganda (BCHC) to buy an ambulance.

The cotton is certified organic by Skal and while the spandex is neither very eco-friendly nor ethical, we appreciate it's there to give the t-shirt the most incredible fit. In terms of fair trade, there's no denying we would have been very happy to see a Fairtrade certification. But the lack of such a certification is not the end of the world.

Amana is a small independent company of two (the name Amana means 'delivered in trust'), and besides the fact that the Skal certification takes workers' conditions into consideration, Wood and Tabrar have also assured us they work according to IFAT fair trade standards. They pay the women three times the minimum wage, make advance payments and assist them with training and growing their business.

Amana also offsets both its own flights to and from Morocco and the transportation of the clothes by donating money to carbon reducing projects in developing countries.

We think £30 is a lot of money for a t-shirt, but considering it's good quality, looks fab and buying it means supporting organic cotton production and good working conditions for women in Morocco and a Ugandan Community Health Centre, we think it's money well spent.

Being fans of bright colours, we'd have loved the Bwindi t-shirt in something other than grey. But besides that -- and the lack of independent auditing in Amana's fair trade department -- this is the greatest top we have ever worn.

Score breakdown:

 

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