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

Also, Safia is frequently visiting our various groups around the world, and writes about her time on her blog. Keep checking it for regular updates.

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We only buy from registered Fair Trade organisations. We already work with a wide network of small scale producers in 17 countries around the world, and so are currently looking to consolidate our work with the producer partners we already have. However, if you know of a Fair Trade producer group contact us and we will pass on your details to our office in Japan where our buying is managed.

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Fair Trade is an alternative approach to conventional international trade. It is a partnership between producers and traders, which aims at sustainable development for excluded and disadvantaged people in developing countries. On a personal level 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 sustainability.

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Fair Trade differs from Ethical Trade, which 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. Fair Trade goes beyond this, working 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.

The Ethical Trade Initiative is a UK-lead volunteer initiative intended to make large companies look at and change their existing trading and buying practices with their suppliers.

Companies that follow Ethical Trading Standards subscribe to the following code of conduct:

• no forced labour
• freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining
• safe and hygienic working conditions
• no child labour to be used
• living wages to be paid
• no discrimination
• no excessive working hours
• no discrimination
• regular employment to be provided
• no harsh or inhumane treatment

However being a member of the Ethical Trade Initiative does not oblige companies to meet these standards. Fair Trade goes much further than Ethical Trade. 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.

Fair Trade involves:

• 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.

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 Trader 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. That means that relationships take a long time to build up, so ethical fashion must be part of a greater 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 fashion market becoming a permanent and prominent sector of the industry.

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Fair Trade and ethical fashion is growing. It's arrived on the high street because of consumer demand, and in turn consumer demand has been driven by pioneer brands like People Tree who have been working for over 10 years with small scale producers in the developing world, pushing the barriers of Fair Trade.

It's not only consumers. The media has also been more and more interested in the idea of organic cotton clothing. This is for a number of reasons. 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. According to the Co-op Ethical Consumerism Report, ethical fashion sales increased 30.3 percent in 2004 to £43 million.

The environment is proving to be a chief concern for the media in 2006, as we start to recognize the impact our industries have on the planet. There is certainly a 'feel good factor' in wearing clothes that haven't exploited anyone, and haven't harmed the environment, and as customers learn more and more about the injustices in the garment industry, the more they are encouraged to change the way they shop.

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You can find out more information from IFAT, the website of the international fair trade association. People Tree has been a member since 1996. You can also visit the Fairtrade Foundation. There is a report conducted by the Cooperative Bank on the ethics of clothing brands, which you can request a copy of by visiting their website. If you would like to read highlights from the Morar Consulting Survey in Ethical Fashion and People Tree please look at our links.

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FEI - Fashioning an Ethical Industry - aims to promote awareness of social responsibility issues amongst the fashion education sector. For more information go to Fashioning an ethical Industry.

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

It would be a good idea to visit some of the People Tree stockist shops before finalizing your plans. If you are running a shop and are interested in stocking People Tree products, please contact Jules Hau.

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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.
• The Textile Directory is an online resource for anyone searching for people, places or products related to textiles in art, craft, fashion and interiors, including listings of where to buy fabric.

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Conventional cotton is not only damaging to the environment and wildlife, but the pesticides and chemicals are also damaging to peoples' health. Pesticides are the cause of 20,000 deaths and 3 million chronic health problems each year. Organic farming uses non-harmful methods of pest control, and is beneficial for the land, increasing cotton yield and therefore benefiting rural communities. More and more companies are realising the benefits of selling organic cotton, as a response to consumer demand: the UK organic cotton market is increasingly rapidly (50% 2004 on 2003). 2006 saw the launch of the Fairtrade cotton mark, which guarantees a fair deal to the cotton farmers. However Fair Trade cotton is not necessarily organically grown. People Tree cotton is Fair Trade and organically certified.

Find out more information about global cotton production and its effect on the environment.

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Find out about fair trade clothing and the certification of the products.

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Find out about the different techniques and processes involved in making People Tree products.

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Growth has been strong since People Tree launched in the UK in 2001 with UK sales growing 40% in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 30% in 2006. In 2003 People Tree started exporting a range to Italy and in 2004/2005 People Tree had a small temporary organic cotton collection in Selfridges. The 2006 Spring/Summer collection saw People Tree launch Fair Trade fashion on the UK high street in earnest with their concession in Topshop's flagship Oxford Circus store in London. This started as a month-long event during fair trade fortnight, but due to the success of the concession it has doubled in size and continued into Autumn Winter 2006. Topshop also now stocks People Tree organic cotton babywear, and a range of exclusive knitwear accessories.

At the end of February 2007 an exciting collaboration between Topshop and People Tree was launched. People Tree for Topshop, a ground-breaking capsule collection made from organic and Fairtrade certified cotton was launched at the beginning of Fair Trade Fortnight. It has been designed in collaboration with Topshop's leading creatives and produced by the People Tree team and Fair Trade partners in India.

Six designs, which include tunics, bubble tops and racer-cut vests are be available in 20 Topshop stores across the UK and from topshop.com making cutting edge Fair Trade fashion available to an even wider audience.

People Tree sells its products via Mail Order Catalogue and through over 600 Fair Trade shops throughout Japan, Britain and Italy. People Tree has two flagship stores in Tokyo and hopes to have one in London soon. (If you have the interest and means to help People Tree do this please do get in touch!)

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Read our mission statement.

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Find out about the Organic cotton campaign.

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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. There are significantly higher costs involved in producing Fair Trade clothing, (a Fair Trade shirt costs People Tree upto three times the price of a conventional one), and we often pay 50% in advance to our producers. However we absorb these costs in order to make our prices very competitive.

People Tree garments are considerably cheaper than some other mail order catalogues with similar quality clothing and the successful launch of a concession in Topshop proves that our prices fit with those of the high street. It is possible to buy a pair of jeans or a t-shirt for under a fiver, but when you think about it, it's obvious that some kinds of prices are not sustainable, and that someone, somewhere is getting a bad deal out of the situation and the environment is paying the real cost of its production.

Consumers do care when they find out more about the appalling conditions that millions of workers in the textile industry experience every day when they make our clothes, and the deadly effects chemicals used in the industry have on workers and the environment. When they understand this, it makes sense that we need to pay a reasonable price for our clothing, one that reflects the true cost, both social and environmental its production.

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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 even though we are now into our fifth year of trading. We made a conscious decision to put smaller markups onto the product prices than High Street companies do, because we knew that would price the products out of the market place until we can reach sufficient volumes to reduce the costs. We spend very little money on marketing; we do not pay celebrities to endorse our products or pay for press advertising. We also have considerably higher business costs, because we work in villages not in bigger cities and towns - transport costs are higher, communications are difficult, and when we visit regularly for training or design work, that is so many more places to visit. 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 industry pays for product 30 or 90 days after delivery.

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It is a very challenging task to produce clothing to Fair Trade and environmental standards, which is probably why People Tree is the only company in the world doing 100% Fair Trade fashion. Fair trade foods are a little easier because they have higher turnover and longer product life cycle (a dress design is only on sale for 6 months, whereas a tea package can be used for years). Our jersey cotton is made with Fair Trade organic fibre; this is 30% more expensive than conventional cotton, and we are pioneers in this field, requiring a lot of time and effort to source it reliably.

Customers will only buy Fair Trade fashion if it is well designed and of good quality, and we have spent 10 years with a very dedicated team in Japan and 5 years in the UK and we hope very much that we will find growing support amongst the public, to support this unique model of Fair Trade fashion, that goes beyond ethical fashion (which meets only minimum ILO (International Labour Organisation) legal requirements for labour costs).

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People Tree's designs are inspired by the rich textile heritage and traditional handskills of the artisans we work with. We use organic cotton and natural materials - so what can be used sustainably inspires us too. Our designers in the UK and Japan work with our producers to create designs. As our lead times are so much longer than conventional fashion companies, our designers have big challenges to predict the trends.

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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, so we have to - we can't just produce something new because it's trendy and get it into the store in 6-8 weeks, which is how mass-produced fashion works. We aim to make stylish clothes that suit you and are versatile, so you want to wear them for longer.

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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 natural materials where possible, and designs clothes which make the most of the skills our producers have (e.g. traditional) trying to make these desirable to our market: There are limits to the garments you can make from organic cotton too. As we favour working with small producer groups, they do not have the same infrastructure of a conventional garment factory which coupled with the handmade nature of the production of the fabrics and embellishment, making design and product development more challenging.

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

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We have a policy of using natural products in our collection wherever practical. For environmental reasons, we try to avoid plastic or synthetic fibres, especially those made from petroleum products, except where there are no practical alternatives. So our buttons and beads are made from a variety of materials, including coconut, beans, glass, shell and bone. Not everything in our collection is appropriate for vegans.

Some species of shellfish are protected species, but some are farmed, like oysters, and others are collected for food and their shells are a by-product. As such, we do not believe that using shell, per se, is inappropriate for People Tree. Obviously no shells of protected or threatened species are used.

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Our core customer is female and 25 to 40 years old, but we also sell lots of organic cotton baby suits, kids & teen tees, and men's clothes.

For more details have a look at the Morar Consulting survey on Ethical Fashion and People Tree.

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Our priorities are paying a fair price to the people who make our clothes, investing in social development and environmental projects in developing countries and campaigning to clean up the industry - that's why you don't find big People Tree advertisements in the glossies. We rely on word of mouth recommendations of customers, Fair Traders and supporters, and the help of some lovely media people, celebrities and movers and shakers that support us.

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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.

We sometimes offer internships in our Japan and London offices. 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 have 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 a list of our stockists or visit BAFTS, 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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