Frequently Asked Questions

You can read about the different Fair Trade groups that People Tree work with across the globe.

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We work with a wide network of small scale producers in 8 countries around the world. We are very focused on building up these groups to help them become as sustainable as possible and maximise the benefit to their livelihood.

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Fair Trade is an alternative approach to international trade. It is a partnership between producers and traders, which aims to empower disadvantaged people in developing countries and promote sustainable development. Fair Trade enables people to put food on their tables, to live and work with dignity and develop their communities. On a global level Fair Trade has the potential to alleviate poverty by changing the unfair structures of world trade and campaign for environmental sustainability and a more democratic system.

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Guidelines for ethical trade are represented by the Ethical Trade Initiative (ETI). The ETI works with large companies helping them to change their existing trading and buying practices with their suppliers. Ethical trade seeks to ensure workers' rights throughout the supply chain of the fashion industry as set down in the ILO convention for Labour Rights. These, if respected, should provide workers with the government minimum wage, health and safe working conditions. Becoming a member of the Ethical Trade Initiative means that companies have shown a commitment to start changing their business practices to meet basic ethical standards.

The principles of Fair Trade are represented by the World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO) of which People Tree is a founder member. (see www.wfto.org) The code of conduct for Fair Trade goes far beyond that of ethical trade. Fair Trade organizations work directly with producers, helping to access the market, and investing in social development and environmental projects. People Tree sets the gold standard for Fair Trade fashion, seeking to help the world's most marginalized people, creating livelihoods in rural areas, preventing urban migration, promoting traditional skills and technologies and using sustainable production methods.

Fair Trade companies build long term partnerships with their producers with the deliberate aim of ensuring sustainable development for marginalised and disadvantaged people in developing countries such as farmers, women heads of households, indigenous people, disabled people and refugees. Fair Trade Companies invest in their producers' communities. People Tree, for example invests in strengthening producer groups, and their communities. People Tree supports schools, hospitals and other facilities for producers and their families. It also guarantees orders and even pays in advance where necessary.

Companies that follow Fair Trade standards subscribe to the following code of conduct:

• paying fair prices to producers which reflect the true cost of production (often world market prices don't cover even raw material costs let alone the cost of making goods).
• helping develop the organizational capacity of producer groups, along with technical and design assistance and marketing support.
• supporting producer organisations in their social development and environmental projects.
• promoting gender equality in pay and working conditions.
• committing to long term relationships to provide stability and investment initiatives in environmental protection.
• campaigning to highlight the unequal system of world trade which places profit above human rights and threatens our environment.

In summary:

Essentially the difference between the two is that members of the Ethical Trading Initiative are commercial organisations that have agreed to meet certain trading criteria; whereas Fair Trade organizations exists in order to help producer communities overcome poverty using their traditional skills.

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We all do. Most importantly, Fair Trade enables producers in the poorest communities of the world to work their way out of poverty, and look forward to a more positive future for themselves, their families and their communities.

For consumers in the UK, they know that buying Fair Trade products means that they are an active part of the solution of world poverty, and are helping to send a strong message to multinational companies to re-think their trading policies in the developing world. Fair Trade is not just about paying a fair price and meeting the legal standards on working conditions - it's a different way of doing business - it's a partnership that we can all benefit from.

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Fair Trade fashion is not easy. It has taken an extremely dedicated team of people both in the UK, Japan and all our producer countries to drive the success of Fair Trade fashion and overcome the challenges.

One important characteristic of Fair Trade is its commitment to producers. The relationship of trust, which producers need to be able to rely on if they are going to transform their lives,takes a long time to build up. There is a need to create a lasting movement, not just a trend. If more fashion companies commit to ethical sourcing and production, then there will be enough to meet the demand from consumers, but it won't be an instant thing. If customers continue to demand high standards from clothing brands, and continue to be interested in the way their clothes are made, then we see the ethical (in the broadest sense) fashion market becoming a permanent and prominent sector of the industry.

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The Co-operative Bank’s most recent Ethical Consumer Report into ethical spending shows that the ethical market in the UK was worth £43.2bn in 2009 compared with £36.5bn two years earlier – an increase of 18%. Much of this increase was seen in the Fairtrade goods which pay a premium to farmers and producers in poor countries to help them work their way out of poverty. The report goes on to say that ethical spending has increased in all demographic groups, not just the middle income. In addition, it shows that sustainable, ethical and ‘green’ issues reporting by major companies is growing fast , regardless of economic downturn, clearly meeting ethical standards is becoming a major element in brand image.

The media shows an ongoing  interest in ethical issues. 2005 was the year of Make Poverty History, which brought the idea of Fair Trade and Trade Justice into the public eye, making people question where their money was going, and the effect their consumerism had on people and the environment. The deadline for the Millennium Development Goals (2015) is fast approaching with its focus on global problems such as poverty, education, low wages and health; Fair Trade principles address all these issues offering viable and sustainable solutions.

Finally, the environment is proving to be a chief concern for the public and media alike.  The impact business and consumption is having on the planet has been shockingly revealed. For millions of people around the world, a degraded natural environment means hunger and poverty that costs lives. Whole communities of ‘climate refugees’ are trafficked around the globe and the horror of their plight is publicised by NGOs and in the press. Within the fashion industry manufacture at exploitative wages, the harmful effects of conventional cotton production and dye effluent  have been exposed.  Companies like People Tree who work with grassroots partners locally to address these problems, are well reported in the media.

There is certainly a 'feel good factor' in wearing clothes that have empowered (rather than exploited) the producer, without harming the environment. As customers learn more about the injustices in the garment industry, the more they are encouraged to change the way they shop.

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The best place to find out about Fair Trade is The World Fair Trade Organization. People Tree has been a registered member since 1996. Their website gives a very clear description of all the trading principles we strive to uphold.

Information about Fairtrade standards for cotton can be found at Fairtrade Foundation.

Look at the People Tree website to find out more about the producers we work with and how Fair Trade principles are put into practice. Have a look at our Social Reviews for an in depth survey of all our work.

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There are lots of places to find out about ethical fashion (remembering the distinction between Fair Trade and ethical fashion). Here is a list of some of the most informative sites:

• Ethical Fashion Forum
• Ethical Trade Initiative
• Fairtrade Foundation
• Labour Behind the Label
• London College of Fashion, Centre for Sustainable Fashion
• MADE-BY
• Trade Justice Movement
• War on Want

Find out how you can be part of changes in the fashion industry read ‘Naked Fashion, The New Sustainable Fashion Revolution’  written by Safia Minney, with contributions from Emma Watson, Vivienne Westwood, Livia Firth and many more, published by New Internationalist

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If you are considering setting up a Fair Trade shop, contact the British Association of Fair Trade Shops.

If you are running a shop and are interested in stocking People Tree products, please contact wholesale@peopletree.co.uk or emma.hiscock@peopletree.co.uk.

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We get our fabric specially manufactured for us, and because our aim as a Fair Trade organization is to keep as much of the benefit from making our clothing in the developing countries where our producers are based, we do not currently sell fabric on the roll.

For sourcing organic fabrics try contacting:

• Loop
• PAN, the pesticide action network has a list of organic suppliers. They are currently trying to set up a wholesale company.
• Bishopston Trading do Fair Trade handwoven materials on the roll.
• The Hemp shop - for hemp fabrics and information about them.
• The British Association of Fair Traders have some stockists of more unusual fabrics.
• Gossypium

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Read our mission statement.

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People Tree clothes are not made in sweat shops; our farmers, artisans and tailors are paid fairly, and are made in 100% natural and organic materials which means our clothing is more expensive than some fast fashion companies. However, our clothes are very competitively priced with other mid market brands.  People People Tree aims to make Fair Trade fashion accessible to as wide an audience as possible, so we work hard to keep our prices down.

People Tree is paying the real cost of producing clothes – a fair deal to the producer and producing in an environmentally sustainable way. A pair of jeans or a t-shirt for under a fiver is obviously costing someone and the planet.

People Tree products are made with good quality cotton and tailored to a high standard, we make clothes that last. We hope that People Tree clothing will be treasured and enjoyed for many years. The unique qualities of breathable, hand woven and organic cotton fabrics on your skin and heritage embroideries, hand knits and craft skills are a rarity in our mechanical culture today.

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The short answer is that People Tree is not making a profit yet. Partly because we pay three times the price of a mass-produced shirt, we have not been able to make a profit yet. However our producers do and they invest this in social and environmental projects.

We don’t spend money on advertising, we do not pay celebrities to endorse our products or pay for press or PR. We prioritize investment in training and pre-financing for our producers. We pay advance payments of 50% on placing the order, so that small-scale producers can buy the materials to start production, and the balance payment on dispatch. This is money that is paid up to 8 months before customers pay us for the product. The mainstream fashion industry pays for product 30 or 90 days after delivery.

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People Tree's designs are inspired by the rich heritage of textile and jewellery and traditional hand skills of our artisans partners in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Kenya and Peru. We use only organic cotton and natural fabrics. We have tow design teams in the UK and Japan. Our designers in the UK and Japan work with our producers to create designs. As our products are made by hand, often fabric is hand woven and growing cotton takes long term commitment our production times are long compared to conventional fashion companies; compared to fast fashion, you could call us ‘slow fashion’.

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We lead the trend in many areas - in pioneering organic cotton and sustainable textiles and Fair Trade fashion. Our work is often covered in industry trend books. As far as following trends, we have our ear close to the ground, but do our own thing much of the time. People Tree products are handmade, even the organic cotton has to be ordered a year or so before the products reach you. We can't just produce something new because it's trendy and get it into the stores in 6-8 weeks, which is how fast fashion works. Anyway, we don’t believe good design dates - and how sustainable is the latest trend if it is disposed of in 3 months?

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There are several design constraints. We don't use plastisol for designs printed on T-shirts, which means you can only print dark designs on lighter backgrounds. People Tree use only natural and organic fabrics where possible, and designs clothes which make the most of the skills our producers have (hand weaving, hand block printing, hand embroidery) trying to make these with good design. There are limits to the garment drapes you can make from organic cotton too. But we are developing new fabrics every year. We prefer working with small producer groups and they don’t have the same infrastructure as a conventional garment factory which also means that we have to invest more in training them and helping them strengthen their infrastructure.

Read about the processes and techniques involved in People Tree products.

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Our core customer is female and 25 to 40 years old, but we also sell lots of Fair Trade fashion to teenagers and grandparents too. They all want great clothes that don’t compromise the producer, human rights or pollute the environment. They also like the fact that People Tree is taking a stand for a more humane fashion industry.

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How do I get a job at People Tree

People Tree is a small company employing only 25 people in London and 50 people in Tokyo. Or have previous relevant experience in fashion or a business specialism. They are experienced designers, technicians, buyers, PR and communications and ecommerce personnel, fashion wholesale sales and customer service. It’s best to get experience first in a relevant area and then watch out for a vacancy under our careers section.

We are a small team at People Tree and vacancies do not often arise, but when they do we will advertise them on our website careers section.

We sometimes offer internships in our London office. We ask that volunteers can commit to at least 2 months, with a minimum of 4 days per week. We provide a small allowance for food and travel for each day worked.

If you are interested in an internship, please send a CV and a short letter about what you feel you can offer us, why you are keen to volunteer for us and which areas of the business you are particularly interested in. We will be happy to consider your application, but please be aware we receive many applications from a wide variety of people with considerable skills, and we will not reply to your application unless it has been successful.

People Tree is committed to equal opportunities and welcomes applications from all sections of the community although we unfortunately cannot take school students on work experience. An alternative possibility is to approach a fair trade shop. See our stockists or look at the  British Association of Fair Trade Shops, who may also be able to help.

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We only take volunteers in our London and Japan offices, not on behalf of our producers overseas. For work placements overseas, contact the VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas)

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