home: about our producers:     About our Producers   ASSISI GARMENTS Assisi Garments has been producing organic cotton clothing for People Tree since 1995. Assisi Garments was founded to provide employment to deaf, mute and poor women who were considered unfit for marriage by their families. At Assisi Garments, employees benefit from training, fair wages, a lump sum paid after five years employment to start a home, and a clean, safe and supportive working environment. Thanks to regular orders from People Tree, the project's initial staff of five has grown to 150. KTS People Tree's Partner, Kumbeshwar Technical School (KTS), based in Kathmandu, Nepal, is an educational and vocational training insititute catering to the needs of low income families. Fair Trade enables 150 women to have a stable income through knitting and 250 children to receive free schooling. People Tree funds 50% of KTS` Primary School Expenses. PUSHPANJALI This fine beadwork is the work of Pushpanjali, based in Agra, North India. Their skills have been passed down through many generations, and the influence of the Mughal era can often be seen in the lavish beadwork and detailed embroidery. Pushpanjali works with traditional beadwork zardozi embroidery artisans; the organisation was set up the workers themselves to escape feom exploitation by middlemen. SWALLOWS Swallows are producers based in a village in northern Bangladesh. It was set up originally to provide support to hundreds of women who had lost their husbands in Bangladesh's war for independence from Pakistan in 1971. People Tree works with Swallows to develop safe and natural dyes in clothing. Swallows trains women in handweaving and tailoring, which helps provide a livelihood and send their children to school. People Tree finances half the running costs of the Swallows school for 260 children as well as the Village Development Programme, bringing safe water, micro-credit and other support to over 10,000 people. More... MINKA MINKA (meaning mutual co-operative in the local Quechuan language) is a Fair Trade organisation with more than 9000 producers working in 62 self-managing groups across rural Peru. They make hand-knitted, 100% alpaca wool jumpers, tops, scarves and hats using the wool from the coloured alpacas, a breed which is endangered and faces extinction because the commercial market overwhelmingly demands white wool. Alpaca wool is considered the finest natural fibre in the world and the white alpaca is easier to dye so has become more valuable and versatile. BOMBOLULU The Bombolulu Workshop was founded to create job opportunities for people with physical disabilities. In Kenya there is no state provision for disabled people or their families and it is extremely difficult for disabled members of the community to find jobs. The workshop at Bombolulu began making jewellery and later added a tailoring workshop. Bombolulu supplies many of the distinctive pieces of jewellery in the People Tree catalogue including the beaten brass collection.   © 2008 People Tree UK mail to: people@peopletree.co.uk FAIR TRADEECOLOGYFASHION