Monday, February 4, 2008

Victoria's Secret, improving women's living standards everywhere, purchases organic cotton from Burkina Faso

File this under: Just in time for Valentine's Day.

From Agence France Presse:

The famed US women's wear chain Victoria's Secret last July signed a deal for the delivery this year of 600 tonnes of organic cotton, with the first shipment sent out on December 24.

"They came to us, wanting biological cotton for women's lingerie," recalled Athanase Yara of Burkina Faso's national union of cotton producers, the UNPCB.

He said the arrangement would contribute to "sustained (economic) development."

"It enables women to improve their standard of living, to care for and educate their children. They (the women) are among the most vulnerable segments of the population."

More than half the producers of organically grown cotton in Burkina Faso are women, according to Georg Felber, local coordinator of a cotton project sponsored by Helvetas, a Swiss association promoting international cooperation.

"This is not a fluke or a fad but a genuine trend followed by the big companies."

It is not known whether cheesy Victoria’s Secret catalogs would be made by paper from cotton fiber.

The story points out that organic cotton output in Burkina Faso has increased nearly 10-fold in three seasons since farmers produced 350 tons of it in 2006.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

There are a couple of awkward translations of Mr. Yara's comments. The English translation of the French phrase "le coton biologique" is "organic cotton." His statement was translated instead as "biological cotton." The second award phrase is "sustained (economic) development"; this should read "sustainable (economic) development." Otherwise, it is great news that Victoria's Secret is buying organic/fairtrade cotton from Burkina Faso. Let's hope that Victoria's Secret, along with other environmentally conscious companies, use more organic cotton from West Africa in their clothing lines. Conventional cotton is dependent on large quantities of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides that are harmful to the environment and human health and cost way to much for small-holder cotton growers.

Unknown said...

Oh, i love victoria´s secret fashion, i think it have the most beautiful collection in clothes, perfume or make up, it drive me crazy!!! I like the fragance and my boyfriend love it, specially because he need to be stimulated this days. Actually i buy viagra for him, he have had some problems, but i am sure we’ll solve it.