Is LVMH buying half a conscience with 50% of Edun?
The French haut couture mega group Louis Vetton Moet Hennessy has just announced it is buying a stake in Edun; the organic clothing company launched by Ali and Paul Hewson, aka Bono, according to reports in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal (14th May). LVMH, the largest fashion and luxury, read horribly expensive, group in the world already owns leading fashion brands such as Celine, Kenzo, Donna Karan and Louis Vuitton. Indeed it is Mark Weber head of Donna Karan International who will oversee the investment in Edun, reported by the Wall Street Journal to be around a 50% stake in the company. Launched in 2005, Edun’s stated objective is to promote sustainable development and fair trading by selling T-shirts and dresses in organic cotton made in the Global South countries such as India, Peru, Uganda, Kenya and Lesotho. The key motivation driving the sellers is a stated desire to expand the Edun brand into new markets, “With LVMH, we can step up its (Edun’s) development, giving greater st
