News
07.06.01: Jane Shepherdson joins People Tree's Advisory Board
People Tree is delighted to announce that Jane Shepherdson has decided to join the pioneer Fair Trade Fashion brand as Product Adviser and a member of the Advisory Board.
The announcement comes at the start of London Sustainability Weeks and just days before People Tree open their largest concession store to date in the new Whole Foods Market on Kensington High Street, London.
Jane will be a key member of the newly formed People Tree Advisory Board. (Including: Rowena Young - Director of the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship, Alex Nicholls - lecturer in social entrepreneurship at the University of Oxford, Nigel Scott - Creative director at communications agency Out of the Blue and Roger Perowne Director of Morar Consulting, the brand development agency.) These members will be joined by other friends of People Tree to develop long term strategy for the well-loved Fair Trade brand with founder Safia Minney.
At her former position as Brand Director for Topshop, Jane's team brought People Tree into Topshop as the first ethical fashion brand. This was the start of a deepening relationship where People Tree for Topshop collaborations of Fair Trade and organic cotton and knit accessories are available in 20 stores as well as a People Tree concession in the Oxford Circus store. Jane and Safia first met at the February 2006 launch of Fair Trade cotton and found a lot to talk about.
Jane Shepherdson says,
"People Tree is an incredible company, completely committed to producing good quality Fair Trade clothing. I have been very impressed by the team since I met them, and am delighted to be able to use some of my expertise to help them to build the business."
Safia Minney, People Tree founder says,
"Having Jane at People Tree feels better than winning any award. Producers will hugely benefit from her practical help working with myself and the People Tree design team.
Together with an experienced and a dynamic board I really look forward to addressing the barriers that prevent more people from benefiting from Fair Trade. I can't wait to show Jane the villages where Fair Trade has helped finance schools, clean water and build pioneering environmental projects."