EDUN |
| Industry | Fashion design |
|---|
| Founded | 2005 |
|---|
| Headquarters | |
|---|
Key people | Ali Hewson (Co-founder)
Bono (Co-founder)
Julien Labat (Chief executive)
Danielle Sherman (Creative director since April 2013)
Sharon Wauchob (Creative director 2009–2013)
Rogan Gregory (2005–2007) |
|---|
| Products | Clothing, footwear, handbags |
|---|
| Website | www.edun.com |
|---|
EDUN is a fashion brand founded by Ali Hewson and Bono in 2005 to promote trade in Africa by sourcing production throughout the continent. In 2009 EDUN became part of the LVMH group.
Danielle Sherman was named Creative Director in April 2013.[1] Her first collection debuted during NY Fashion Week, September 2013.[2] The collection includes a range of ready-to-wear, handbags and accessories.
History
In 2005, Hewson and Bono founded the Edun label ("nude" spelled backwards, to suggest both "natural" and the Garden of Eden).[3] It was intended to help bring about positive change in Africa through a fair trade-based relationship rather than by direct aid.[4][5] Hewson said they wanted "to show that you can make a for-profit business where everybody in the chain is treated well."[4]
"We felt if we failed it would be a double failure. We'd be saying, 'We can't do this,' and then other companies would go, 'Well, see? We've always known that. Basically we dug our heels in and said, 'We're staying. We're going to make it work."
—Ali Hewson on the problems Edun was facing
In May 2009 the couple sold 49% of the company to LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton.[6][7][8][9][10] The large luxury conglomerate, helped the company recruit new management and a new designer after the departure of Rogan Gregory two years before.
Following LVMH's investment in the brand, EDUN appointed a new creative director, Sharon Wauchob.[6]
In season 2010 Edun brought back the focus to the runaway, which was critical for their new chief executive, Janice Sullivan, former president of Liz Clairbone Inc.’ DKNY Jeans division. The same year Ali Hewson and Bono appeared wearing EDUN in a Louis Vuitton campaign, shot by photographer Annie Leibovitz in Africa.[11]
In April 2013 Danielle Sherman became the creative director for the brand[12] and debuted her first collection SS14 during New York Fashion September 2013.
Julien Labat is taking over as chief executive officer of Edun, effect May 1st 2015.[13] Labat most recently worked at French fashion brand Carven as Commercial Director. LVMH Managing Director and representative on the Edun Board Toni Belloni said: "We are thrilled to have Julien Labat joining us at Edun. His experience in the industry will be valuable to Edun as we grow the business as well as its African infrastructure and community programs."[14]
In May 2016 Danielle Sherman has resigned as creative director of Edun, a role she held for three years, to pursue other opportunities.[15]
In September 2016, EDUN has a new “collective” of designers at the helm, but their names aren’t being revealed. It’s a move to refocus Edun’s identity and underline the label’s core mission: to support business in Africa and elevate the continent’s rich, artisanal crafts.[16]
From Spring 2017, 80% of EDUN’s production is made in Africa and the remaining 20% is produced locally in the US. Collection’s sourcing is a mix of innovative eco solutions (organic, recycled, upcycled fabric) and some artisanal-custom-made developments from Africa. EDUN just launched its first E-commerce platform recently on Edun.com. The collection also welcomed its first leather bag line, 100% sourced and made in Kenya, signed by an iconic artisanal handle made of recycled polished metal.[17]
EDUN opens its first retail location on September 14, 2017. Located at 265 Lafayette Street, in the heart of New York City’s prime shopping district, Soho, the 750-square foot store embodies the brand’s distinct artisanal aesthetic and ethically centered mission.Imagined by the EDUN Creative Collective and the brand’s Founder, Ali Hewson, the space features African sourced materials and eco-friendly, handmade and recycled design elements.[18]
Mission
In 2008, Edun established the Conservation Cotton Initiative Uganda (CCIU), which provides funding, training and enterprise support to cotton farmers to help build sustainable businesses in Northern Uganda.[19]
Edun Live
In 2007, Edun launched the division Edun Live, a tee-shirt business which is 100% grown and sewn in Africa.[20]
DIESEL + EDUN
In January 2012, Italian fashion entrepreneur and "jeans genius" Renzo Rosso of the Diesel group,[21] Hewson and Bono travelled to north Uganda, where EDUN's Conservation Cotton Initiative (CCI) is based, and to Dioro in Mali, which is house of the Only The Brave Foundation Millennium Village, a project of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, the United Nations Development Programme, the Millennium Promise, and Renzo Rosso.[22] This African journey encouraged them to join their forces for a new Diesel+Edun label that will be made entirely in Africa to generate sustainable development and raise awareness of the creative opportunities in the continent.[23]
Born in Africa, the first Diesel and Edun collection, was launched on 27 February 2013. The collection, completely made in Africa from cotton produced and processed by the Conservation Cotton Initiative (CCI), is inspired by the African creative spirit, reinterpreting the four-pocket jeans of the 1970s, which were popular on the streets of South Africa. Malian textile prints are applied along the denim and across the jersey .[24] On 3 March 2013, DIESEL+EDUN feted its new collection at the Gaité Lyrique theatre in Paris for the Paris Fashion Week.[25]
On 12 April 2013, Bono cohosted a party at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival to throw the Studio Africa project on the first official night of the 2013 festival. Studio Africa, a project started in 2013 by DIESEL+EDUN, is as an effort to spotlight fashion, music, and other arts from the continent.[26][27] The campaign features nine artists in fashion, film, music, literature, and photography, including Tanzanian beauty queen and fashion model Flaviana Matata, Senegalese actor Sy Alassane, Ivoirian fashion designer Laurence Chauvin-Buthaud, Congolese musician Baloji, Moroccan writer Abdellah Taïa, and South Africa photography collective I See a Different You.[24]
Source of manufacturing
By 2010, most of the company's fashion line manufacturing was in China, while simpler garments were still African-made. This gave some negative publicity to the brand.[6][7][28] Hewson said that business realities compelled this action, but that over time she hoped more work could be done in Africa.[6] Since its founding in 2007, Edun Live has produced 700,000 African made t-shirts. Hewson calls this venture 100 percent African grow-to-sew initiative.[29]
Hewson said in March 2011, "There is a misconception that we moved business out of Africa. We didn’t. We’re now working in eight factories in Africa whereas this time last year we were in two. We’ve actually grown our Edun business in Africa and by 2013, it will be up to 40%".[30]
The company now produces 85% of its collection in Africa.[31]
