Edun is both good and glamorous

"We carry the story of the people who make our clothes around with us." That's the motto of Edun, a fashion label that tries to help some of the poorest people on earth. Since it was launched in New York in 2005, the company has grown steadily; but now that Moët Hennessy-Louis Vuitton has bought a 49 per cent stake, it's on its way to becoming a very big business. It is the French luxury giant's first move into ethical fashion.

Edun is also the story of a Dublin mother of four children who met her boyfriend at age 15 and married him when she was 21. Ali Hewson is 48 today. Her husband is Bono, the lead singer of U2. A trip they took together to Africa in 1985 was the beginning of her love affair with the continent. She promised to do something about the poverty she saw there once she had raised her children.

Hewson says that having "healthy, great kids" and a "crazed husband" is the secret of Edun's success. Then there's being Irish. "I think there's a memory in our DNA, which comes from the famine of 1845," she told Time. "We had nothing, and nobody came. Irish people know what it's like to be abandoned to your fate. As a result, [in] any disaster in the world, you will find us trying to help."