U2's Bono, wife to launch activist clothing line

[Guest guest]

You, too, can dress like a rock star

 

Mon Mar 14,10:16 AM ET

 

Add to My Entertainment - USATODAY.com

 

By Donna Freydkin, USA TODAY

 

" The world does not need another clothing line, " U2

frontman Bono pronounces.

 

 

But the self-described " big-mouth Irish rock star " and

his wife, Ali Hewson, are entering the fashion

universe with their collection, Edun, co-created with

designer Rogan. Edun's earthy but chic duds, which are

created from organic materials, are made in family-run

factories in South America and Africa with fair-labor

practices. (Related video: Bono, wife to launch

clothing line)

 

" We're not preaching that we're going to save the

planet. But we're doing our best, " says designer

Rogan, who goes to each factory and meets with

workers.

 

Translation: The $168 jeans and $80 camisole you buy

at Saks Fifth Avenue won't be sewn by kids in

sweatshops. Edun (nude spelled backward) clothes have

personalized details: The jeans, for example, have

Rainer Maria Rilke's poems embroidered inside their

pockets.

 

" It's tiny footsteps, small choices, " Bono says.

" Where you shop, what you buy, the questions you ask.

It's a different kind of label consciousness. "

 

Before you roll your eyes at yet another lecture from

the politically minded musician, who just joined

England's Prime Minister Tony Blair (news - web sites)

and Microsoft's Bill Gates (news - web sites) at the

World Economic Forum (news - web sites) in Switzerland

to discuss the problems facing Africa, Bono feels your

pain.

 

" I'm sick of Bono - and I am Bono! " he says. " But this

is our moment, and let's see what we can do. I'm just

trying to get value out of my life. "

 

Spending money on himself isn't the answer, he says,

before adding with a laugh that he has " only got a few

villas in the South of France. "

 

Like Bono, wife Hewson has for years been quietly

campaigning for trade in Africa and working with

anti-nuke causes. But unlike many attention-hogging

rock-star spouses, she has stayed behind the scenes;

Edun is her first foray into the spotlight.

 

Hewson, a woman so low-key that at the start of this

interview she asks whether anyone needed water and

immediately offered to get it, is still not used to

the focus being on her.

 

" It's going to be interesting, " she says. " In Ireland,

I'm fairly well known, but not here, which has been

good. But I think we've just blown that. "

 

Working with her husband has " been fun, " she says,

shooting him an amused glance. (The couple have four

children: daughters Jordan and Eve and sons Elijah and

John Abraham.)

 

Bono, despite his signature shades and slick rocker

cool style, was never a fashion trailblazer. " I bumped

into the fashion industry in a rock 'n' roll band, and

I wasn't very fashionable, really, " he says. " I'm the

man who brought you the mullet. "

 

So, will U2 be wearing Edun clothes on their upcoming

world tour, which kicks off in San Diego on March 28

and runs through December? Bono isn't sure yet, but U2

guitarist Edge " has been wearing Rogan's stuff,

anyway, " Bono says.

 

The band's concert T-shirts, however, will be made by

Edun.

 

Says Bono: (Drummer) " Larry Mullen is hard to please

in terms of quality, and for years, rock 'n' roll

bands have been putting out T-shirts that fall apart,

and we've always had good-quality shirts. So we had to

prove to the band that this was better quality than

what we're used to, and we did. "

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mail - Easier than ever with enhanced search. Learn more.

http://info.mail./mail_250