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September 20, 2007
A Fair Trade Fashionista – London Fashion Week
Click to watch my interview with the Guardian Online.
Saturday 15th September
Set up People Tree stand using brown paper and string with a few designers’ help – amazing what you can do on a shoestring – or a hemp string! Looks O.K.
I’m in a ‘vintage’ People Tree cerise pink hand-woven silk sheath dress, grey alpaca shawl and high-heeled trainers! I look like a fashion statement by default – I whack clothes on each morning!
I’ve got front row tickets to Bora Aksu show and I take Jerome and Natalie, my 14 and 11 year olds – they’re impressed and so am I. Natalie asks pointedly: why do all the models look the same? Wouldn’t they look prettier if they smiled? She’s too pure to see women as clothes horses, no matter how beautiful the clothes, she sees clothes as second to the person always. Her observation colours my experience of London Fashion Week throughout. Bora’s collection is gorgeous though. Bora has designed a beautiful piece for a People Tree designer collaboration for Spring Summer 2008, as have Thakoon and Richard Nicoll.
Bora Aksu and me
Sunday 16th September
London Fashion Week starts – the stand is busy with buyers and media people who are keen to see if we tick the box in terms of DESIGN – they seem happy – phew!
Monday 17th September
Joan Ruddock
Leeyong Soo, Contributing Editor of Vogue Japan and me.
People Tree launches the designer collaboration and celebrates the first anniversary of Estethica with a champagne lunch party with help from Ecover and Ecotricity. Joan Ruddock (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at Defra with responsibility for biodiversity, climate change adaptation, waste and domestic forestry) gives a message of support for sustainable fashion. Leeyong Soo, Contributing Editor from Vogue Japan, talks about how the Vogue/People Tree international designer collaboration put Fair Trade Fashion on the fashion map.
Leeyong Soo beside the SS08 Thakoon organic cotton dress
Leeyong with People Tree's Madeleine King and Arabella Preston
Other friendly faces included Jane Shepherdson, Carol Robb (new head of design at People Tree), Stuart Rose, Bora Aksu, Claire Hamer from Topshop and Rowena Young. Also journalists from T4, New Consumer, American Elle, Red, Cosmopolitan, In-Style, Harper’s Bazaar, Daily Telegraph, Guardian Online, Evening Standard, Tree Hugger and Senken Shimbun, Topshop from Japan. The whole world seems to be here.
Tuesday 18th September
Am getting fed up with images of slender girls who bear little resemblance to real women – the unforgettable box on head image from the Gareth Pugh show haunts my dreams – this is such a scene and I want to scream out loud that the fashion world is taking itself far too seriously. How much do I want to be part of the fashion world? It’s not that I don’t appreciate fashion as an art form, but really the models are farcical – I want real clothes for real women. Duping women and seducing them with expensive imagery – perpetuating a media day dream undermines women’s self-esteem and self-worth – and wastes a lot of money that could go to paying the real social and environmental costs of making clothes. I want to talk fashion agendas – so I meet fellow traveller Katharine Hamnett for an impassioned chat and fag out the back.
Wednesday 19th September
People Tree people are running to shows and after show parties - I literally can’t keep up with it all – looking glam on the outside day in day out is impossible – I’m frazzled on the inside. The piles on my desk have slid off onto piles on the floor! There are too many details to worry about in Fair Trade Fashion – that makes my life so unglamorous, even during London Fashion Week.
A few sweet buyers seem to see the glamorous side of People Tree – the SS08 collection gets rave reviews from some boutique and department store buyers. Jo Hunt, head buyer at ASOS.com commented that “the new People Tree designer collaboration looks beautiful, proving that you can look stylish at the same time as supporting Fair Trade fashion” – so we seem to be heading in the right direction.
Thank you Ecover and Ecotricity for your support of our People Tree Designer Collection 2008 launch and first year anniversary party – great to have friends like you! XX
My kinda London Fashion Week party Swaparama at Favela Chic, Old Street- Swaping clothes saves resources.
September 13, 2007
Safia launches Organic Cotton Declaration in Japan – endorsed by PAN UK (Pesticide Action Network)
Organic cotton symposium in Tokyo last week
People Tree, Avanti and Patagonia are the pioneers for organic cotton here in Japan. All of us have been working in organic cotton for over 12 years and have developed some of the best fabrics and clothes in the international market. This week we celebrated organic fortnight in the UK – so we decided to celebrate in Japan too!
Hikaru and Yuri model organic cotton with Safia and the president of Avanti Watanabe
Organic cotton clothing is now in some high street stores, but without legislation, manufacturers can call it ‘organic’ without specifying how much is ‘organic’ – and the manufacturing is not necessarily to organic standards. The only way to be sure, is to show certification that meets the Global Organic Textile standards (GOTS). The Soil Association is a member of GOTS and the mark guarantees that from the field through spinning, fabric making, dyeing, tailoring and its journey to the warehouse the product meets organic standards.
Cotton farmers in India are being undermined further by 3 billion US dollar subsidies to US cotton farmers - that brings down the international price of cotton by 25%. They can’t even use the one advantage that they have: their cheap labour to earn a living. In the last six years over 100,000 farmers have committed suicide, many in desperation as they are unable to repay their debts, much of which is due to the impacts of buying chemical pesticides.
This is crazy and why we decided to launch the Organic Cotton Declaration and to make a commitment to double our orders of organic cotton. Enabling farmer to earn 30% more than conventional cotton.
Hasmukh Patel speaking at the press conference
In Roppongi Hills, a gleaming building in the heart of Tokyo, we hosted a press conference, where journalists were briefed on the issues facing cotton farmers worldwide, the campaign is expected to galvanise the Japanese garment industry to promote organic cotton. Hasmuk told them of the cotton farmers’ plight and the difference that fair trade and organic cotton makes. We need more certified organic cotton. We also need high street stores to develop long term relationships with farmers so they can expand the land under organic cotton with confidence. It is not enough to hop on a plane after your competitor launches an organic cotton range and want it “yesterday”. Approximately 30 journalists then joined over 150 members of the public in a symposium on organic cotton – clearly it is only the consumer that can push for change – and sustain it. Buying Certified Organic and Fair Trade cotton sustains a movement to clean up the fashion industry.
September 12, 2007
A week in Japan - Peace, tranquillity and how to make a sun tattoo before a big event.
It’s great going back to Japan where People Tree started and being with the team here. This week was extra special because I got to hang out with my favourite organic cotton farmer, Hasmuk Patel from Agrocel in India and my husband James who lives in Tokyo.
Except a typhoon that lashed at everything for two days solidly – our two room flat was transformed into a haven of peace – friends hanging out, delicious organic veggie food, yoga in the morning courtesy of Hasmuk’s teachings (I’m competing with a 26 year old friend for a 6-pack/nice lean stomach – so my exercise tends to be much more jerky than yoga) – and lots of breakfast and night-cap chats about Guardian-style economics.
Skin tattoo time
I haven’t had a summer holiday yet this year – so I stole a day away at the beach and stencilled my body with sun tattoos – ‘Organic cotton’ on my forearms and ‘Fair Trade’ on my thigh – I could teach Chris Martin a thing or two! Between downpours - the typhoon started on my only holiday day - the sun came out and the messages were baked into my skin. I didn’t get my thighs out at the press conference the next day though – although a few people did read ‘Organic Cotton’ on my forearm (Try it! All you need is black sticky tape and scissors, cut the letters out, stick ‘em on and offer your limbs to the sun. Peel off at the end of the day – easy!! If you’re fair skinned, you probably ought to be a bit more responsible – do it over a few days, not hours! You’ll need to shower carefully though )
September 11, 2007
Anita Roddick - too young to die
64 is far too young to die. Especially when she would have enjoyed a gleeful old age as the market mainstreams business ethics - the Anita of her books, ranting about slow moving government and dirty multi-national companies, would have been able to do her bit, slow down, and satisfy herself with that lovely warm feeling that "I told you so" brings.
Did she mainstream ethical consumption? She was certainly one of the main players and certainly one of the people that influenced me. When I was 14 I used to shop in the second Body Shop in Reading, which looked more like a 'head shop', introduced to me by my only hippy friend, it was a million miles away from the Body Shop stores of today. Then when I arrived in Tokyo 17 years ago, I worked in the first Body Shop there. Japanese who had lived in the UK flooded in, expecting the same campaigning and activist nature of the Body Shop of that time, and were surprised that little other than neat rows of cosmetics was in place. I remember running a letter to the hotel that Anita was staying at saying that I thought that the Chinese gift baskets seemed far from Community Trade, and a dozen other gems of advice. Needless to say I did not get a reply.
I do remember meeting Anita at the shop opening party and getting a big hug - I was very impressed that she would hug a lowly sales person! So many people to meet and so many hugs - the thought has often kept me going when I answer the same questions to the umpteenth Japanese university student after a presentation...that was Anita's star quality- her genuine passion and warmth. I went on to answer a lot of the questions that those Body Shop customers wanted by launching an environmental and social justice group called Global Village, then People Tree.
Building and creating momentum for an ethical market internationally, as well as in the UK, is certainly something that Anita and her company did.
Ethical Consumers like all of us have seen how our consumers choices, from boycotts, to the support of Fair Trade and organics, can change the way an industry thinks. But what a shame that she won't be able to enjoy watching the changes as an old person - she deserved to live as long as those Italians you find walking up and down in the Pyrenees until they are 110!
Rest in Peace Anita. Thanks for the hug and inspiration!
September 10, 2007
Safia and the People Tree team jump for joy
It has been three years in the making and People Tree has finally got the finance it so desperately needed to scale-up it’s support to organic cotton farmers and artisans in the developing world.
We have finalised a £300,000 loan from Oikocredit. The funds will be used primarily to make advance payments to People Tree’s producer groups around the world. People Tree’s expansion in the UK has meant increased production throughout the supply chain, from organic cotton farmers in India, to weavers in Bangladesh and to small producers of the finished clothing in India, Nepal and Peru.
The new investment comes at a time of increased Fair Trade Fashion promotional activity including People Tree launching their Spring Summer 2008 collection at London Fashion Week in September, hosting a press event to celebrate the second designer collaborations and an international Organic Cotton Campaign.
People Tree’s growth in direct sales (catalogue and website) and in-store sales has also brought increased financing requirements. Later this year, Oikocredit is planning a further, equity investment in People Tree Fair Trade Group, which will be reorganized to own both People Tree UK and the more established sister company in Japan.
“We are very pleased to have Oikocredit on board as partners”, said Safia Minney, People Tree Director and Founder, “and we appreciate their commitment to help us scale-up our Fair Trade business.”
Stefan Harpe, Oikocredit’s Manager of Equity Investments, commented that “We expect People Tree’s dedication to organic farming and artisan producer groups, and its commitment to people and the environment will generate a dual social/investment return, and we look forward to the partnership with People Tree.”
Mirjam Schoning, Director of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, made the following comment:
“When it comes to raising funds, even high profile social enterprises like People Tree seem to fall through the cracks. Commercial banks, despite their talk of ethical investment, find them too risky. Charities are focused on smaller amounts given as donations. We need to see more investors willing to combine a financial and social return - so that social entrepreneurs like Safia can get on with going what they do best - changing the world - not constantly looking for finance.”
Go People Tree, go!! And thanks to all for your support,
Saf x
