The Lovedesh Tee

THE WORLD’S “KINDEST” TEE SHIRT

INTRODUCING THE LOVEDESH TEE (LIMITED EDITION)

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Fund-raising Not For Profit T-Shirt to raise money for:

1. Kickstarting Lovedesh, a new ethical Luxury brand designed to feel, look and deliver good;
2. A Lovedesh Atelier Artisan Studio in London to bring garment workers and artisans from Bangladesh into the UK for short term work experience, to boost their income and career choices.
3. Supporting factory workers in a worker owned factory in Bangladesh by boosting their income; the more t-shirts sold the more they income they earn.
4. Immediate relatives and orphans of garment workers, one of the 1,136 who died in the 2013 Rana Plaza factory collapse;
5. Protecting and platforming heritage handicraft artisans in UK and abroad (read About Us for more info);

Lovedesh is A British Ethical Luxury Brand With Heart.

We chose 11.36pm GMT, on 8.03.2020 as the inaugural trading launch date of The Lovedesh Tee.

On 24.04.2020, it will be seven years on from the date when 1,136 garment workers working in a factory in Bangladesh died. We fashion brands in Europe and USA should never forget.

We can do better. We must do better.

Our first Lovedesh ethical luxury item for sale was designed to pay homage and support those who remain exploited, underpaid and underprivileged across the world. As well as redefine beauty and feature citizens changing the society  around us

We also are hopeful.  We want the world to move on from such terrible tragedies in a new way. By finding responsible solutions to remember the victims and to pave the way for new foreign fashion brands like us who can show we can do better, pay better and be better.

The Lovedesh Tee is designed to disrupt the fashion scene. It is a limited edition print run. It will stay on sale for only one year and on 11.36pm GMT on 24 April 2021, we will stop taking orders.

So get yours now.

My 2019 Journey to Bangladesh

I have been travelling Bangladesh regularly as a lone businesswoman, since 2012. I have even learnt the language after I became passionate about changing the unfair negative stigma attached to this nation and its people, who I often feel are exploited by foreign entities.

We as fashion brands, may not always get it right but we must try and be better. Here’s how I am trying. Every item we create and make at Lovedesh®, we try and ensure we are responsible towards the people, plant and plants we wish to protect, promote and platform.In March 2019, I travelled urgently to source a garments factory that could make the Lovedesh Tee to the high quality, responsible and ethical supply chain values that lie at the core of my new ethical designer brand. And I needed Organic Cotton supply (which we will review and monitor as we also worry about the impact the demand for cotton is having on our environment).

And so the search began.

Alone I travelled out to Bangladesh. On limited money a start up has. Leaving my daughter Amber, who is 17, a key designer at Lovedesh® and due to complete her final year of A Level exams was deeply stressful. But it had to be done. I realised I could not trust any UK or European supplier of any t-shirts. I had to take responsibility for manufacturing the t-shirt myself and to personally inspect the factory at which it was to be made. After speaking to a number of sources, I contacted a worker owned factory. I met their female garment workers, who as you can see from my photos and selfies, were all shown The Lovedesh Tee® design. I asked their opinion and even interviewed them. They loved it. In their own language, they explained to me, face to face, why they loved working at this factory and why they need brands like Lovedesh® to keep bringing them orders.

I was blown away by their happy passion and their love for each other, professionalism and solidarity to work and change their livelihoods. Moreover. I was even happier to be allowed to check their working conditions and observed myself that the factory was clean and spacious. I was also told by the management I can have contact with them whenever I liked.

Often when I made contact with foreign manufacturers as a buyer seeking a ready made organic cotton t-shirt, they would promise me their factories are safe for workers.  They showed me certification.  At Lovedesh that is not enough.

When I ask to let me visit as “I don’t want a PR tour” I was told this is not possible.

So I learned the Bengali language. I became fluent.  I searched and searched for a factory.

This worker owned factory I ended up choosing, agreed with my ethical stance.  I was happy to note they welcomed my impromptu short notice inspection. They were able to supply me organic cotton and also promise me that they will look after the well-being of their female workers some of whom they explained, some were on their management committee.

It’s all captured on our short film below.

The experience I had at this worker owned factory, appeared to me a far cry from the horror stories we hear in news stories about other bad factories who mistreat their workers

These female garment workers I met seemed genuinely happy and well looked after.

When I told them the Lovedesh Tee was being sold to boost incomes, the women clapped gleefully and were delighted.  As we hugged each other and after I had left their factory, with their cheerful cries of “please come back and see us sister Yasmin?”, I felt that better times were coming for them and all of us – within the fashion world.

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April 2019. The Lovedesh Tee In Production at a worker owned factory in Bangladesh.

Next, I chose to wear a sample of the Lovedesh Tee, (printed in London by Leon at ‘Printing In London’ before I flew out on my emergency business trip) on a visit to Savar in Bangladesh on Wednesday 3 April 2019.  I was driven there (two hours from centre of Dhaka), as I wanted to pay my respects to the 1,136 garment workers who died here during the Rana Plaza factory collapse in 2013.

During my visit to Savar, I was overjoyed to accidentally stumble across and meet some of the relatives of the tragic dead victims. Together, we stood and prayed at the site of the collapse. I listened to them regale their continuing stories of hardship and shown a remembrance plaque. And while they confirmed to me they had received compensation, we all know no amount of money can recover the loss of a loved one. We chatted, drunk tea together and I observed how the relatives of the victims were visibly moved with the news that Lovedesh was seeking to pay and protect artisans and garment workers better, as well as seeking to support them and provide more career choices. I asked them if I had their permission to sell the Lovedesh Tee. They blessed me and wished me well. I was so moved by their kindness.

I also met a destitute, homeless former female Rana Plaza factory worker, who told me she had been a tea lady at the building. Of how her life had changed forever after the tragedy and how she managed to escape. I stared at her and she stared back – raised many worlds apart but connected by our shared Bangladeshi blood heritage. We hugged and she stroked my cheek. We all later sat quietly in contemplation, while the noisy bustle of street traffic hurried by.I needed these blessings. Meeting them all, I felt even more energised to make Lovedesh a successful. And returned to UK to launch this website with my amazing web developer in Kenya, James Mobutu.

It is why I am so proud and pleased to launch what my daughter Amber and I believe could be labelled as the “kindest” t-shirt by Lovedesh®, a new British ethical luxury brand that is designed to look, feel and deliver good.

Watch the video below again to be reminded why the Lovedesh Tee is the “kindest and rarest” t-shirt you can be to help you believe that fashion world needs changing for the better.

And remember to #SaveTheDate on 8 March 2020, when you can pay to place your order for the Lovedesh® Tee, to change the fashion world for the better.

And if money is an issue right now, then just share news of the world’s “Kindest” t-shirt on your social media? Doing so means you help Lovedesh® be the change we want to see.

Thanks for reading

Yasmin x

March 2020 – London.

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