My Fair Lady - Fashion, Fair Trade and the Fate of Nations

- NEW YORK, NY, December 12, 2005 - Summer Rayne Oakes (www.summerrayne.net) will be the lead model for the Fair Trade Symposium (www.fairtradeexpo.org) to be held in Hong Kong during the WTO Ministerial "Human rights at work, environment, and human health, particularly in developing or least developed countries have been overshadowed by global trade rules in the past," comments Oakes. "The purpose of the Fair Trade Symposium and People Tree"s fashion show is to demonstrate that by providing fair wage and fair prices, families and their communities are given opportunities that wouldn"t otherwise be made available."

Ben Lilliston, the Communications Coordinator for the Institute of Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), one of the organizations heading up the Fair comments: "Summer Rayne has been and continues to be a leader for fair trade in fashion. Her involvement in the fair trade fashion show in Hong Kong is very important. It helps demonstrate to trade leaders the broad support for the fair trade movement from countries around the world and from all segments of the fashion industry."

Director of the 2005 Fair Trade Fair, Patricia Jurewicz agrees, "I"m delighted that Summer Rayne is able to make the trip to Hong Kong and contribute to our Fair Trade Fair. Not only will she be an asset to the fashion show, but she will be speaking at our press conference, blogging about her experience, and putting us in contact with a whole new network of fair trade supporters. It"s a breath of fresh air to work with someone who is so versatile, has convictions and really understands the advantages of fair trade."

Understanding fair trade comes easily to Oakes. She will be representing two brands at the Fair that she models and consults for under her company, SRO, LLC (www.gen-s.net). These labels include Mercado Global and a high-end luxury line, AD Schwarz, which will be due out in the U.S. in 2006. She will also be bringing information on TransFair USA, the only third-party certifier of Fair Trade products in the United States. "I met the TransFair crew just the other day," comments Oakes. "Paul Rice, CEO of TransFair said it best: "We are breaking the cycle of generational poverty. With fair trade, we can reach our hand halfway across the world and help someone put food on their tables or stay in school." Now that is both a powerful and sobering thought."

Current market numbers for fair trade products ring in at around $500 million annually and are quickly increasing between 40 and 700% across the world, most likely due to consumer education and interest. The Fair Trade Symposium will highlight this growing interest over three days and will feature: a press conference, an opening reception, a one-day symposium, and a fair trade fashion show, all of which Oakes will be a part of. She will also be one of many independents managing a play-by-play of the happenings for the Fair Trade Symposium and Radio Hong Kong blog. Viva Fair Trade!
The Fair Trade Symposium"s steering committee includes:
and#61607; The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (www.iatp.org)
and#61607; Equiterre (http://www.equiterre.qc.ca/)
and#61607; The Asia Fair Trade Forum (http://catgen.com/aftf/EN/)
and#61607; OXFAM Hong Kong (http://www.oxfam.org.hk/public/), and
and#61607; Gerster Consulting. (http://www.gersterconsulting.ch/)

Source: on pressbot.org | Date: 14.12.2005 - 21:49 | 299 times read