Comments on: The unkindest cut: why gifts in kind are often a bad idea

By: What aid workers think of the 1 Million Shirts campaign | Good Intentions Are Not Enough What aid workers think of the 1 Million Shirts campaign | An honest conversation about the impact of aid

Sun, 26 Sep 2010 21:59:02 +0000

[...] The unkindest cut: why gifts in kind are often a bad idea – A Humourless Lot [...]

By: Good Intentions Are Not Enough » Blog Archive » What aid workers think of the 1 Million Shirts campaign

Sun, 27 Jun 2010 18:27:03 +0000

[...] The unkindest cut: why gifts in kind are often a bad idea – A Humourless Lot [...]

By: Blood and Milk » Blog Archive » A meditation on used bras

Blood and Milk » Blog Archive » A meditation on used bras — Wed, 12 May 2010 11:23:11 +0000

[...] of getting to this point: used underwear is icky and donating it is hard to do in a non-icky way. In-kind donations in general are very hard to do well, and undergarments are a whole new level of [...]

By: Michael Keizer

Michael Keizer — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 03:21:35 +0000

Thanks, Dennis! Full bibliographical information:
Rivoli, P 2006, The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy: An Economist Examines the Markets, Power, and Politics of World Trade, Wiley.

It is interesting, BTW, how the whole issue of GiK has been subsumed by the t-shirts over the last couple of days.

By: Dennis Bours

Dennis Bours — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 02:55:43 +0000

Interesting discussion, especially the one million T-shirt initiative.

I would advise anyone in the T-shirt discussion to read the book ‘The life of a T-shirt in the global economy’. Sheds great light on value added of products and if you would incorporate that into the discussion, you’ll see you are actually adding value (transport) to nothing (second hand T-shirts). As such, you’re wasting resources.

Most of the cotton and haf-products for the T-shirt are actually produced in the countries we’re sending our old rubbish to. As such, there is the technology to produce anything needed in the country and micro-credit, business assistance and economic empowerment programmes would have a much more positive impact…

By: Round table teleconference on the T-shirt affair - A Humourless Lot

Round table teleconference on the T-shirt affair - A Humourless Lot — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 01:26:41 +0000

[...] day after I published my post on gifts in kind, a minor eruption rocked the aid blog-and-twitterverse: a new charity tried to get 1 million [...]

By: Humourless links for April 28, 2010 - A Humourless Lot

Humourless links for April 28, 2010 - A Humourless Lot — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 14:13:53 +0000

[...] After my earlier negativity on gifts in kind, now a story about an organisation that seems to do it right. Any reader who has first-hand experience with this outfit? [...]

By: Michael Keizer

Michael Keizer — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 04:02:59 +0000

Thanks, J.! Looking forward to your #SWEDOW confessions.

By: J.

J. — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 16:02:45 +0000

Spot-on as ever, Michael.

Appreciate your confession, too, at the bottom. For what it may be worth, you’re not the only one… we all have an instance or two of bad aid in the past, hidden away in a closet or shoebox somewhere…

By: Tweets that mention The unkindest cut: why gifts in kind are often a bad idea – Logistics for health and aid - A Humourless Lot -- Topsy.com

Sat, 24 Apr 2010 11:26:40 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Michael Keizer. Michael Keizer said: New post: The unkindest cut: why gifts in kind are often a bad idea http://bit.ly/ci8Dq8 [...]