COOPER & CO x HIGHLANDS COLLEGE JERSEY
I’m a great believer in business being a force for good. I’m fortunate to be involved in an industry that has a global reach, namely coffee. It is the second biggest traded commodity after oil and as a result touches the lives of millions of people from all walks of life.
This appreciation of how our actions impact on so many whom we don’t see got me interested in the world of fast fashion which in turn has led to an annual collaboration with students at Highlands college and in particular their arts department.
We have some incredibly talented students who through their course work get the opportunity to build a story around design, sustainability and the world of commerce. They work with Tee-mill who not only print designs onto t-shirts but also recycle returned t-shirts rather than adding to the growing container loads of fast-fashion items that find their way to countries in Africa where they are left to rot.
Over the last couple of years my input which was very much connected to our business, that of coffee has now broadened into wider sustainable issues. Vacant homes and empty shops have been used as subject matters alongside the environmental impact of fast fashion.
We start out with a discussion around the issues of the day and then look to see how these issues can be turned into eye-catching messages on a t-shirt. As the weeks go by the students develop their ideas and the college then calls me in to give feedback on their ideas. The results in narrowing the designs down as we iterate between the idea and the artwork. I share my commercial experience with their creativity. After all this is how the real-world works, especially if you want to make a living in the creative industry.
The students never fail to impress me and I was privileged to be invited to their awards ceremony where all that hard work is recognised. We’ll start all over again later this year and it will be interesting to see what the latest cohort determine are the issues that matter to them in 2024/25.