This World Fair Trade Day, Saturday 10 May, we launched a special Fairtrade-cotton sock designed by 10-year old Elliot from St Elizabeth’s RC Primary School, Wythenshawe.
Elliot’s fun design beat over 6,000 others in a nationwide competition for 7-11 year olds to design a Fairtrade-themed sock, and was chosen by a panel of judges which included award-winning actress and CAFOD supporter Jo Joyner (Eastenders, Trying Again) and a senior designer from SockShop – one of our corporate partners.
10 per cent of sale of the limited-edition sock will be donated to CAFOD, helping to fund our work with some of the poorest communities in the world.
Get your hands on a pair of Elliot’s Fairtrade-cotton socks
Elliot said:
“We learned about Fairtrade in school and I really enjoyed it because it’s interesting to see how you can help other people. When I was designing my sock, I remembered that Fairtrade is about paying people a fair wage for things that they produce. It’s about making people happy. So that’s why I designed a sock with a smiley face made out of fruit.
“I can’t believe that I won the competition. It really is amazing how close to my design the socks are. I love them! I’m proud to be involved with Fairtrade and with CAFOD’s work with people around the world – I’m proud that my socks are helping to raise money for such a great cause.”
Find out more about our work with children and young people
Actress Jo Joyner said:
“I know it’s a cliché but it truly was so difficult to choose the 10 finalists and then even harder to choose a winner. There was so much thought, time and creativity that had gone into the designs. Most impressive was the fact that all the children seemed to have grasped completely the concept of fair trade.
“Elliot’s design impressed the judges because it said so much in such a simple way. The smiling face out of the fruit demonstrating the happiness that fair trade brings. Crucially, in terms of a design, the colours, the fact that the design is on the ankle of the sock and the sense of humour displayed made Elliot’s a really wearable sock. I’ve got my order in already!”
Ben Oldham, Diocesan Manager for Leeds, said:
“We are absolutely thrilled at the number of schools and individuals who entered the competition from all over the country. It’s clear that the children have loved finding out about the important issues surrounding fair trade and the work of CAFOD in an interactive way whilst taking part in a unique competition. This has been the perfect way to celebrate World Fair Trade Day.”
We received over 6,000 designs from 142 schools for this competition. Thank you to everyone who took the time to enter the competition; we loved seeing all of the fantastic, beautiful designs.
As part of their ongoing work with CAFOD, SockShop are generously donating 10% of sales of all other items bought on the SockShop website – SockShop.co.uk – when customers enter ‘CAFOD’ into the gift voucher code box on the basket page and press the validate button.
