U2 frontman Bono and his wife of 23 years, Ali Hewson, launched a new clothing line that reflects “a marriage of social activism and aesthetic innovation”. Edun (“nude” spelled backwards), co-created with designer Rogan, is made from organic materials in family-run factories in South America and Africa with fair-labour practices.

"We wanted to show that you can make a for-profit business where everybody in the chain is treated well," explains Ali. "We carry the story of the people who make our clothes around with us."

For Bono and Ali, who has for years been campaigning for trade in Africa and working with anti-nuke causes, the company’s goal is to generate jobs in developing nations by establishing stable factories, paying fair wages and rejecting child labour.

"It's tiny footsteps, small choices," Bono says, according to USA Today. "Where you shop, what you buy, the questions you ask. It's a different kind of label consciousness."

The collection features mostly casual wear for men and women, ranging from $45 to $300, and includes shrunken blazers, slim-cut denim pants with metallic stitching, jeans with a poem embroidered inside their pockets and T-shirts, made using traditional Incan vegetable dyes.

"We're not preaching that we're going to save the planet. But we're doing our best," says designer Rogan, who goes to each factory and meets with workers.

The label was launched at New York Saks Fifth Avenue on Friday and was supported by some A-list celebrities, including supermodel Christy Turlington and rapper Jay-Z, who has his own fashion brand, Roc-A-Wear. Edun wear is available from March at Selfridges in the Saks Fifth Avenue in the US.

Despite his rocker cool style, Bono admits he has never really been keen on the glamour business. "I bumped into the fashion industry in a rock 'n' roll band, and I wasn't very fashionable, really," he says.

T-shirts for U2’s upcoming world tour, which kicks off in San Diego on March 28 and runs through December, will all be made by Edun.