Fairtrade Cotton Clothing
and School Uniform Koolskools is so much more than a traditional
school clothing supplier. We work alongside schools in a fully interactive educational partnership so that everyone can learn more about Fairtrade
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Koolskools and Bitterne Park School

A win win approach to Fairtrade Cotton School Uniform

Students led the way in wanting to be able to buy a Fairtrade cotton uniform product at Bitterne Park School (BPS) in Southampton. After much searching and many meetings they decided to work in a genuine, mutually beneficial business and educational partnership with Kool Skools.

Bitterne Park school liked the Koolskools dedication to offering a meaningful educational partnership to all Bitterne Park students, in tandem with high quality and keenly priced cotton/polyester logo'ed school polos. They gave powerpoint presentations to the various BPS year groups on Fairtrade and Fairtrade cotton, and offered BPS's Business and Enterprise Group some pointers on how to market the Koolskools polos from their school shop, which was launched for this very purpose.

The BPS partnership with Koolskools has enabled BPS to win the 'Best young enterprise company within Southampton' award at the 2011 Young Enterprise finals
The BPS Business and Enterprise Group sell the Koolskools Fairtrade cotton garments from their school shop

Here are some of the many positive comments made by the BPS Business and Enterprise Group students about the Koolskools/BPS partnership:

“...the Fairtrade cotton polo shirts....were unique in that they were made of good quality cotton and met the individual requirements of the school, parents and pupils e.g. the students did not want the shirts to be too see-through......”

“....the BPS Shop team, having had excellent experience with handling the individual needs of the students, saw that this was a great opportunity, and is now selling the polo shirts as their main product, having already sold hundreds of (Koolskools) Fairtrade cotton polo shirts...”

“...the BPS Shop's Human Resources Manager, Robyn Myers, commented that the polo shirts were 'of an excellent quality of material. They are also competitively priced, which means that the parents get a good deal for their well-spent money.....so far our sales are through the roof!!' ”

“...from the perspectives of the students who purchase the Fairtrade cotton polo shirts, it is clear that the partnership between Kool Skools, Bitterne Park School and our enterprise shop is successful. With marketing strategies, like posters and presentations made by the BPS Shop, alongside the efforts of the school and Kool Skools, hopefully many more students will help to support the Fairtrade philosophy...”

“...we believe that selling the Fairtrade cotton polo shirts helped us win the coveted role of the Best young enterprise company within Southampton at the 2011 Young Enterprise finals....”

Writing in an article about the project for the “Hot Tips” section of the Fairtrade Foundation website, Deputy Head Teacher Simon Graham said:

“...our belief is to educate our students through the curriculum and other extra-curricular activities so that they can make informed decisions. Offering Fairtrade products to students and parents is a new and exciting dimension in Bitterne Park School and making a difference to the world we live in....”