Yesterday, on the Penn State Brandywine Campus, the Fair Trade Trailblazers held their second T-shirt swap and the event was a win-win for all involved. Not only were fair trade textiles promoted on campus, but the t-shirts students donated were given to Planet Aid. Students brought their gently used T-shirts to donate and in return received a brand new Alta Gracia Penn State Fair Trade T-shirt. Alta Gracia is a fair trade company located in the Dominican Republic.
Penn State Brandywine is a Fair Trade University, located in Media, Pennsylvania, the first Fair Trade Town in the United States. Through a large student effort, Penn State Brandywine was granted Fair Trade University status on May 12, 2012, World Fair Trade Day.
Word about the two swaps was spread through social networking and posters around campus. With every new shirt, students received a brochure with information about Alta Gracia, Planet Aid and fair trade. Both Alta Gracia and Planet Aid followed the event and reTweeted images and tweets during the event, helping to get the word out and hopefully impact attendance to the event.
The first Fair Trade T-shirt swap was held in April and the students received more than 200 T-shirts and gave out more than 70; the second swap, the exchange was more than 120 T-shirts for 70 new ones.
Planet Aid is very grateful to the Fair Trade Trailblazers for their contribution, for helping to promote Fair Trade, and for helping to protect the environment. To see photos from the event, please visit the Flickr site.