Woodland designs for UNICEF

Woodland is further strengthening its support to UNICEF's work for children in India to provide safe drinking water to underprivileged families.

In May 2011, Woodland renewed its partnership with UNICEF to continue support to children's environmental issues in India, specifically to ensure access to safe drinking water to school-going children across the country.

A pilot fundraising campaign was launched across all Woodland stores in India allowing shoppers the opportunity to donate Rs 10 or more to UNICEF at the time of billing. The campaign ran until March 2013 and customers got the chance to show their support to the children of India.

In a bid to achieve more through its efforts for the same initiative, Woodland is further strengthening its support to UNICEF's work for children in India to provide safe drinking water to underprivileged families.

Taking forward the partnership to another level, Woodland and UNICEF have launched a T-shirt design application to raise awareness on safe drinking water and proper sanitation. Woodland has initiated a unique online T-shirt design initiative, 'Design4UNICEF'. Using the application tools available on the website, one can design their own T-shirt on the theme of safe drinking water and sanitation. The selected design will be available at all Woodland stores.

As a part of the current initiative, 15 per cent from the sale of this product will be donated to UNICEF programmes to ensure safe drinking water and proper sanitation for every child. As per Singh, a part of the proceeds from the sale of these styles will also be donated to UNICEF India for the WASH programme running across the country.

Speaking to afaqs! about the idea behind the initiative, Harkirat Singh, MD, Woodland, says that the pilot fundraising campaign done in Chandrapur in Maharashtra had 9000 families being provided with clean drinking water in the village.

"As an outdoor wear brand, it is important for us to be sensitive about the environment. This activity is a part of our ProPlanet community which is committed to make our home, our planet, a better place to live in. It is time to take the cause to a bigger platform and involve our customers. This initiative is in lines of that very thought," Singh informs.

The initiative is being promoted across Woodland's Twitter and Facebook networks with the hashtag #Design4UNICEF and also across 500 Woodland stores in the country.

The winner of 'Design4UNICEF' initiative will be chosen by a jury of experts and will be commercially sold across the 500-strong chain of Woodland stores as a limited edition line.

As part of the association under Woodland's sustainability initiative 'ProPlanet', over the last two years, customers have already contributed Rs 12.5 million - with support growing each day.

"This is the third year of our partnership and I am glad we have come a long way. The partnership has given us an opportunity to improve the lives of people by giving them better water and sanitation facilities and also helped us in driving the society towards a healthy and positive life. The task at hand is huge and we want to maximise our support to ensure that not a single child is left behind without safe drinking water and proper sanitation," Singh adds.