Tamsin speaks

Here's a post from the President of (RED), Tamsin, who just returned from Africa. ~ Colette
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30+ hours traveling back from Africa to California is plenty of time to marvel at these past few weeks of May.

A couple of weeks ago:

Bono, Bobby, Sheila, Len and I went to Gap’s headquarters in San Francisco to get a look at their first full collection of (RED) items. We were all struck by the passion, commitment and inspiration that the Gap team has put into the line. It shows in the clothes and the store experience that they are creating.. There is nothing remotely “mass” about Gap(RED). Each item feels created by the hand of someone thinking about the individual who will wear it. There is nothing anonymous about these pieces…it’s a very organic layering of details, each functional or communicative in some way. A simple, deliberative layering of stories and moods and moments…and a real pride of artistry comes through. The Gap team told us the designers were thoroughly jazzed about working on (RED) collection. The excitement shows. Even the specially-created fixtures that will showcase the line in the top stores look as though they were hand-crafted as an architectural extension of the clothes themselves.

A week or so later:

We converge in sub-Saharan Africa. First stop – the mountain kingdom of Lesotho. For me, this was the most amazing leg of the journey. I’ve spent the past decade on efforts to buoy the economic competitiveness of countries in this region. But no policy debate in Washington DC or Brussels has ever been remotely as compelling as the sight of a dozen factory workers vamping down the runway at the fashion show put on by the Lesotho garment manufacturers association in the 100 percent African t-shirts that they themselves produced. It was a beautiful, beautiful moment, but hardly the last of the trip.

Looking back, I don’t know that we ever passed a person in the street – man, woman or child – who didn’t wave and smile. The vibe was infectious. I think we all felt that incredible energy, so much in contrast our “busy” “stressful” lives in America, London, Dublin… A third of the population in Lesotho is HIV positive and they are fired up about making a better future for themselves. Bono one night recalled a quote that nailed this determination: “Don’t kick the darkness/make the light shine brighter.”

I guess if I could communicate one thing that most struck me in the visits to Lesotho and Rwanda, it’s the honest lack of cynicism. Rwanda went through a horrifying civil war. The first hand account given by one survivor was hard even to hear. And yet, listening to everyone from government officials, health workers, the hilarious guy that runs the coffee processing facility that supplies Starbucks to the beautiful women who make baskets in their spare time to sell to department stores in the U.S., they are determined to succeed.

It’s funny but sitting in the bar my last night in Kigali, I realized that Bono wasn’t the only rock star on the trip. If the commercial equivalent of an autograph is a business card, then the admittedly groovy Leslie Dance of Motorola was the hot ticket that night. Motorola has a legacy of engagement in Africa on business and philanthropic ventures, but it was excitement over the new MotoSLVR for red, and interest in building components of phones and packaging in Africa, that really stirred up the crowd.

Wish I had been able to stay on through to Mali to meet the women who make mudcloth. The Converse mudcloth high-tops for (product) RED are the perfect embodiment of the spirit behind this brand we’re building. What’s deep is cool. Those shoes are the real deal!