Vivienne Westwood and Anvil Knitwear joined forces to launch a limited edition T-shirt today to support the efforts of rainforest nations at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen to stop deforestation.

"I am so glad to have had the opportunity to do this tiny, tiny thing - design a T-shirt - every little bit helps," said British fashion designer Vivienne Westwood. "ACT FAST/SLOW DOWN and stop climate change. That's the message. We must all commit ourselves. Say YES to the Rainforest."

Deforestation is responsible for approximately 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions, more than all the world’s cars and trucks combined. Despite the rainforest's great value to the environment "“ absorbing carbon, purifying water and playing home to millions of species - they have no market value alive. The only value a tree has today is dead, as timber.

The Coalition for Rainforest Nations wants to right this situation at the climate summit in Copenhagen by initiating a mechanism known as REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation). Through REDD+, the United Nations will issue carbon credits for each hectare of living rainforest. These in turn could be traded on the world's commodity markets to countries, such as the United Kingdom, that need to reduce their emissions at low cost. The proceeds would go to poor landowners who today have no option today but to log their trees.

""We are truly honored to have Vivienne and Anvil supporting the rainforest cause," said Kevin Conrad, Executive Director of the Coalition for Rainforest Nations and Papua New Guinea's Special Envoy and Ambassador for Environment & Climate Change. "We hope that the launch of these fabulous T-shirts will help draw more attention to deforestation and the plight of our citizens who are now on the frontline in the battle against climate change."

Anvil Knitwear, Inc., a leading manufacturer of socially and environmentally responsible apparel and accessories, provided eco-friendly T-shirts from its AnvilSustainable™ collection. Each shirt is made with a blend of recycled polyester, derived from approximately three recycled plastic bottles, and transitional cotton that comes from farms that are converting to organic farming methods, a three-year process required for receiving organic certification. Eco-friendly printing for the shirts was provided by New Buffalo Shirt Factory.

"Environmental issues are extremely important to Anvil - we manufacture in Central America, and rainforests are in our backyard," said Anthony Corsano, CEO of Anvil Knitwear. "We try our best to walk the talk by improving energy efficiencies, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and using materials that are less harmful to the environment, and we are honored Vivienne Westwood and the Coalition for Rainforest Nations selected us to partner with them on this important campaign."

About Vivienne Westwood
Vivienne Westwood has been designing for almost 40 years and is recognized as one of the most influential fashion designers in the world today. In 2004, a major retrospective of her work was shown at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the largest exhibition of its kind for any living British designer. The exhibition subsequently toured the world for five years and was featured in over ten cities. Vivienne Westwood's contribution to fashion was officially recognized when she was appointed Dame Commander of the British Empire by Her Majesty the Queen Elizabeth the Second in 2006. Westwood often uses her credibility as a fashion designer and the medium of her shows to talk about culture and politics and more specifically about the urgent need to act against climate change. She recently supported the Prince's Rainforest Project by encouraging people to sign up to the campaign and to save the rainforest.

About Anvil Knitwear, Inc.
Anvil Knitwear, Inc., a century old sportswear brand, was ranked the sixth largest organic program and the largest domestic purchaser of US grown certified organic cotton by the Organic Exchange in 2008. In addition to the AnvilSustainable™ tee, Anvil's Eco Collection offers 16 products, including T-shirts, fleeces and bags made from eco-friendly fibers such as organic cotton, recycled cotton, transitional cotton and recycled PET under the brands AnvilOrganic&res;, AnvilRecycled™ and AnvilSustainable™ brands. The AnvilRecycled™ tee, made from 69 percent pre-consumer recycled cotton, is certified CarbonFree® by Carbonfund.org and was the first carbon-neutral recycled cotton T-shirt on the market.

For more information, please visit www.anvilknitwear.com and www.anvilcsr.com.

About the Coalition for Rainforest Nations
The Coalition for Rainforest Nations (CfRN) is an intergovernmental policy group that is developing economic incentives to support environmentally sustainable economic growth, including the sustainable management of forests. CfRN is working within the United Nations system to ensure that future climate change agreements provide positive incentives to developing countries that voluntarily reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) and promote the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests and the enhancement of forest carbon stocks.

Anvil Knitwear, Inc.

Anvil Knitwear, Inc.

Anvil Knitwear, Inc. is a socially-responsible manufacturer of quality active wear, hats, towels and bags for men, women, and children. Anvil, sells primarily to the B2B market and under private label brands. Anvil brands include Anvil(R), chromaZONE(TM) by Anvil, AnvilOrganic(TM), AnvilRecycled(TM), AnvilSustainable(TM), Cotton Deluxe(R), Towels Plus(R) by Anvil. Anvil is a corporate signatory to Social Accountability International (SAI) which promotes the SA8000 social management system and it is a CERES Company, supporting the CERES 10-point corporate environmental code of ethics. The company is headquartered in New York. Anvil Knitwear, Inc. is a wholly- owned subsidiary of Anvil Holdings, Inc. For more information, visit www.anvilknitwear.com or www.anvilknitwear.eu. in Europe.

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