Safia Minney is the founder of the Fair Trade Fashion Company - People Tree.
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Jane Shepherdson picks her favourite pieces from the SS08 collection.
"I was very struck by the difference that Fair Trade production can make to the way that people live, in that it enables them to stay with their families and communities, as well as earning a decent living. People Tree strives to make this the norm and not the exception."
Jane Shepherdson
According to the Fairtrade Foundation 20% of people said they’d support Fair Trade but they just hadn’t made it their habit yet. For goodness sake the easy thing is buying it from a supermarket shelf - it can take years for a Fair Trade product and industry to benefit from being mainstreamed like this. The least you could do is buy Fair Trade.
As we continue to celebrate Fairtrade Fortnight you’ll see supermarkets decorate hoardings with photos of smiling food producers and the FLO mark and you will feel like the world could be a better place if all that social marketing became a reality.
The Fairtrade mark provides a valuable tool, set up by the pioneer Fair Trade organisations to help consumers find FLO food products alongside conventional exploitative ones on the supermarket shelves.
Still, building new certification for Fair Trade products, so you can entice big retailers and big business takes time. This is because certification needs to reflect the realities faced by the people Fair Trade aims to help. If standards are rushed in, small scale producers could find that only large scale production and business can do Fair Trade. It would be crazy to punish a small scale hand-knitter in Nepal because they couldn’t source Fair Trade cotton, especially when a hand produced item makes 10 times more work at a fair price than a machine-made one.
All People Tree fashion is 100% Fair Trade and cover IFAT’s 10 Fair Trade standards. People Tree also has Fairtrade certified cotton in 50% of it’s clothing but the fibre is also certified organic and manufactured in Fair Trade projects in the developing world. At People Tree we gave hundreds of hours of our time, as did other pioneers, to develop the Fairtrade cotton standards.
Today you’ll be able to buy Fairtrade labeled cotton clothing here and there. But, you will not be able to buy Fair Trade manufactured products except from People Tree and other Fair Trade clothing pioneers.
So please make Fair Trade your habit, the least we can all do is buy the Fair Trade labeled products in front of us on the supermarket shelf. If you want to go a step further, then buy from the pioneer brands, Cafedirect, Divine, People Tree, etc.
Parts of our new collection are available at our concession in Topshop Oxford Street and 50 stockists in the UK and the full range is available from People Tree online.
Supporting the catalysts for change has never been more critical
KTS knitter in Kathmandu
I’m in Nepal where I was working with People Tree producer groups who make hand-knit wear and handicrafts along with three People Tree designers. It seems like the only thing that Nepal has going for it economically is Fair Trade – the economy has slid backwards. Political instability means that the infrastructure is crumbling as Maoist campaigns have forced people into Kathmandu Valley, doubling the population in only 5 years. Coupled with high prices and limited availability of kerosene fuel, water and electricity which comes and goes in turns around the city, life is the hardest I’ve ever seen it here.
Taking a tea break en-route
I’m staying in KTS Director Kiran Khadgi’s family home so have the privilege of water to shower and delicious home cooking. Houses are being built everywhere. Unemployment and inflation have never been higher – this country needs a good government and a plan – Fair Trade is not enough.
I’m facilitating a workshop for handicraft producers – doing research and interviews to find out the challenges Fair Trade organisations face in Nepal in going green. (It also reigns me in from designing too much stuff for People Tree – seen as a mixed blessing by our designers – I love handicrafts with a passion!
People Tree’s key partner in Nepal Kiran Khadagi, shows new fibres that he is developing out of banana tree trunk.
Nepal has amazing traditional Dhaka hand weavers, incredible natural fibres and fabrics. We’ve developed some amazing yarns made from nettle, hemp, banana trunk fibre and banana root fibre – don’t worry banana trees are completely sustainable – all these incredible fibres are possible because of the long term commitment of a Fair Trade partnership!
Traditional Dhaka weaving at New Sadle, Nepal
Fair Trade and the growing market for green products…
There are 10 people at the workshop from the largest Fair Trade groups, all members of Fair Trade Group Nepal. Each group has stepped up their activities to prove just how environmentally friendly their handicrafts are. In some cases this puts a huge strain on them. Nepal’s infrastructure is so poor sourcing certified this and that is impossible – you have to develop the supply yourself. Many produce products totally by hand and the only advantage they have is that they aren’t affected by regular power cuts! It’s shocking to hear some have lost orders from commercial companies because they can’t show they use certified organic cotton – which is ridiculous! Social and environmental justices have to work together and here’s a summary I filed to the World Fair Trade Day website I just published
Meera Bhattarai, Director of Associated Craft Producers, Nepal – brandishes the World Fair Trade day logo (link) with felt producers.
Bora Aksu
It’s that time of year again I fly in from Nepal (coming in next blog) straight into London Fashion Week. Where People Tree presents its AW08 collection at Estethica.
My favourite show was Bora Aksu’s AW08 collection so feminine and sexy – we want it all. Love it! (he’s designing for People Tree too) – so watch out world. These are some of our favourite pieces from the Bora Aksu show.
London Fashion Week
New trends from the capital of the world
Vivienne Westwood is back in London and the capital feels rejuvenated at the thrill of it. London is not only the hot bed of creativity but also new trends like Fair Trade and ethical fashion.
We discuss the value of ‘Estethica' the ethical and Fair Trade fashion section of London Fashion week – being in Paris, New York and Milan as well. As the mainstream designers dabble in eco, it would be useful to profile the pioneers in eco to keep up the momentum globally. Making it easy for press and buyers to find eco brands internationally could speed up the movement towards sustainability in fashion
Revellers at Sam Ubhi party
Being more into the issues than ‘fashion’ per se. I am a little out of my comfort zone surrounded by immaculately groomed beauties age 20 wearing not much and heels and dancers like these. I’ve just got in from Nepal, a country where there is little access to clean water, electricity and kerosene fuel rationing is a way of life - you need your bodily hair and warm clothes.
I dance and drink too much at jewellery designer Sam Ubhi’s party and stagger home – the transition from Nepal to London Fashion Week is just too much. But we get some great orders at London Fashion Week – yeah!
Fashion friends – A Timberland boot, Gucci boot and a recycled pump! - guess mine!
Robert Polet, CEO of the Gucci group, Saf and Jeff Swartz CEO of Timberland
Is feminising economics the key?
I attend a number of riveting sessions that look at the female/male mind with anthropologist Helen Fisher of Harvard (Read her book The First Sex for more information).
Just hold up your right hand and study your palm to check if your ring finger is longer than your index finger, if it is this proves you have had more testosterone washed over you when you were an embroyo (in my case I am more male than female!).
There is a lot to be learnt including that what international business leaders judge as management ability, including flexibility of thinking, multitasking and team work are considered female attributes.
Could it be that male dominated management has got us into the current mess of an unsustainable economic system? After all male features we are told are focused which typically results a short termism, un-joined up thinking and a less holistic approach
Certainly all the male ecologists in my life seem to have their feminine side intact. According to Helen what women lack is this ‘focus’ – minds wondering whilst in the throws of passionate sex being a common feature (no comment!).
Water is local
My next session is helping working on a session on ‘water.’
The world seems finally to have woken up to water being a critical issue. Did you know it takes 100 litres of water to make one litre of cola? Industry is embracing the issues because the lack of water will put them out of business if they don’t.
We spend a lot of time talking about how to solve these problems and approach these issues. Isn’t it about watershed management and involving the multi-stakeholder decision? Of course some environmental groups and social enterprises have been active in this field for 20 years or more!
The eco-system has broken down, we have to write down what the tipping point was – all rather depressing but it demands all to focus.
Road to Davos - Impatient for change.
A definite highlight was meeting Social Entrepreneur teenagers from 6 countries – check out these stars that are representative of a larger group of impatient youngsters who are changing the world. They were all fabulous!
Road to Davos seminar
Friends of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship
Saf with Mr Faisal Abid, BRAC, World Toilet Organisation and Waste Concern boys – Iftekhar and Maqsood.
The boys from Waste Concern – Iftekhar and Maqsood
Change is all around us.