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April 24, 2008
New BBC ‘Thread’ Series -- MUST WATCH -- Send this link to your friends!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/thread
Factory made – an antidote to fast fashion?
I’d hate to work in a factory, live in a slum, away from my family, because my wage can’t afford me more. Factory work is the non-stop pressure of a production line, 14-hour days (no time to think about washing your socks), and allows no creative freedom and no life work balance, unlike the Fair Trade projects People Tree work with. So why buy fast fashion if you wouldn't be prepared to make it?
I loved the concept of Thread – 6 gorgeous, young things who care little about how the cheap fashion they buy is made, visit India, live with garment workers and supervisors and work in a factory. They start at the best factory – and find it all too much – tears and frustration at not being allowed to be a 'free range person'– have a look
The programme will move on to the lower end subcontractors and the ‘sweat shops’ we imagine. Do watch on BBC or if you are outside the UK, check out some of the highlights on You Tube . Send these links to your friends too!
March 07, 2008
Yay, we won!!
What a great start to the day – 8.30 in the morning and I find myself in West London attending the Cosmopolitan Online Fashion Awards, and guess what, People Tree only went and WON the Best Ethical E-tailer Award.
There’s an interesting irony – no women’s magazine has ever awarded me anything, except for Cosmopolitan. When I was a whippersnapper in publishing they acknowledged me as a ‘women of tomorrow’ – and here I am turning up again like a bad penny, this time in our green guise as People Tree. Thanks Cosmo for being ahead of the curve in acknowledging women and ethics in fashion.
What makes this even more special is that it was voted for by Cosmo readers and I think that’s really important; for it is them and all the people out there that can make a difference. The more people that purchases Fair Trade fashion the more of a difference we can make and the quicker we can drive it into the mainstream.
February 22, 2008
People Tree celebrates Fairtrade fortnight – from a Fair Trade pioneer's perspective
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
February 15, 2008
London Fashion week – My Favourite show
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!
February 07, 2008
Davos days
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.
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 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
June 08, 2007
Wholesome Happenings! (London)
A week of sunshine and interesting happenings. London School of Economics visited People Tree with “Proteus,” an executive programme which aims to inspire business leaders through creative experiences – They came to learn about Fair Trade and what we do at People Tree.
They were so hot at the end of their journey up Brick Lane that they didn’t want the Fair Trade coffee and biscuits we’d prepared – just water, lots of it. Was it the heat or my complimenting Tom Taylor CFO of Cuscal (an Aussie Company) on the detail on his shirt that prompted him to remove it? Right there in the main entrance of the office. I gave him a Fair Trade one in exchange of course!
People Tree's concession at Whole Foods Market
This week also marked the opening of Whole Foods Market on High Street Kensington It’s amazing to have an organic store like that on your door step, ‘if that’s your postcode.’ Filled with yummy mummies and delicious looking breads, fruit, chocolates and of course People Tree clothing selling well there too. Do go along!
Personally I find myself feeling a little breathless in such large stores and am pleased my milkman can deliver me a box of organic foods that arrive on the peaceful step of my flat in South London.
Friends from the Associated Craft Producers – including Meera Bhattaraii (holding the necklace) - visited from Nepal, to discuss product design and have a cup of Fair Trade tea (They kept their clothes on!) Great to see you all!
A busy week, punctuated by interviews about Jane Shepherdson joining People Tree as an Advisor on future plans for People Tree and how to develop the market for Fair Trade Fashion.
May 10, 2007
Fellowship at the RSA
Safia Minney, not too small to go unnoticed by the Royal Society of Arts, she asks her favourite man in London, Michael Radomir, to join her there for lunch to celebrate her fellowship.
I’ve been lucky to have the support of a few really special people, fellow ecologists, media and business people that want to see Change.
Michael was one of the first and it must have taken a great step of faith four years ago when People Tree was starting out. Michael introduced us to friends who helped raise the profile of Fair Trade fashion, like Sienna Miller. He’d also send me sweet text messages of encouragement at key moments that I’d ‘save’ and read when I felt a bit tired out – they’d spur me on.
Today, we talked over lunch about a new project in organic cotton I’m starting in Bangladesh and his project to support Romanian farmers. Michael is working to strengthen farmer groups there, develop an infrastructure and is looking at the policy that undermines agriculture and the culture of rural Romania. As we chatted I realised how close our areas of work and our approaches are.
But Social Entrepreneurs have to have fun too! Michael and his brother, Leo, joined us in Japan two summers ago. I took them to my favourite hang-out the ‘Blue Moon’ beach house, near Kamakura, where they were an immediate hit with the Japanese beach babes. Dangerous stuff!
Whether it is fine Japanese ceramics, organic food or walks in the country, values transcend to bridge work and pleasure.
Anyway, it’s great to have a new place to meet kindred spirits, whether it’s by the beach or the more elegant surroundings of the RSA.
March 29, 2007
Meeting the International Development Committee
Safia and Monju at the House of Commons
Those of you who look at my blog from time to time may have got a sense of how broad our work is. This week I received a marvellous chance to have a public whinge about how hard it can be, and to ask the British government to support the work of pioneering Fair Trade companies like People Tree.
Not only has People Tree helped groups in the developing world produce beautiful clothes and handicrafts, but it is also unique in developing the Fair Trade Fashion supply chain from the field through all stages of manufacture, and has been key in building the market for Fair Trade fashion. All of this at the same time as campaigning for Fair Trade. No wonder I can never find time for a holiday!
The International Development Committee invited Monjurul (Monju) Haque from Artisan Hut, (a key partner of People Tree’s from Bangladesh that make stunning handwoven clothing using organic cotton) and me, to give witness to the social impact that Fair Trade has made for 250 weavers and artisans in rural areas. Other Fair Trade pioneer companies including Divine, Traidcraft and Cafédirect, also gave submissions as well as some of the big PLCs - Tesco, Nestle and Sainsbury.
The parliamentary select committee exists in order to direct the work of the Department of International Development (DFID), and this was a great opportunity for the Fair Trade company pioneers to explain what Fair Trade can achieve at a grassroots level and to discuss the value and efficiencies gained of scaling up these activities. The government needs to invest in models that already have a proven track record and experience of working with marginalised communities to promote livelihoods, and to further develop the Fair Trade supply chain and market access.
Without strong foundations and leadership from the Fair Trade movement – the proportion of Fair Trade products stocked by high street retailers will not grow and we could see a down grading of standards as large companies look for a quick PR fix rather than long term development, poverty alleviation and changing the economic structure that keeps people poor. It was after all the Fair Trade pioneer companies that wrote the standards, developed the Fairtrade mark and promoted trade justice issues to win the support of the public issue. Fair Trade should not be blurred into an ‘ethical’ standard that rewards companies for meeting minimum standards; it should set standards for development through trade.
Blurring the issue matters!
The speaker for Tesco blithely claimed that not only is the cotton in their new T-shirts Fairtrade, but that the manufacturing of the T-shirts was Fair Trade too. This is completely untrue. How are consumers to navigate through this misinformation? Is blurring the issues intentional? Thankfully the IDC committee are incredibly well informed - they picked up on this immediately and had come to the meeting incredibly well researched.
Monju and I left the Houses of Parliament excited at a process of democracy that, with vision, could enable the Fair Trade movement to scale-up, having a huge impact on millions of peoples’ lives and the strength to push barriers to go beyond meeting the minimum of good practise. Acknowledgement and support of Fair Trade pioneers is needed to continue developing the ‘gold standard’ for Fair Trade – and keep a healthy debate about how trade can be used to positively impact people in the most marginalised communities of the developing world. The debate has to go beyond humane conditions in factories alone.
You can read our submissions to the committee:
-What Monju shared about Fair Trade impact
-What Safia shared about the need to support the Fair Trade pioneers
-People Tree and other companies’ submissions to the IDC
February 02, 2007
Social Entrepreneur's Summitt 2007 - Zurich
So it’s official – Social business is not a trend - it’s a paradigm shift! Dozens of Social Entrepreneurs like me were glad to hear this (we were at the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship – Social Entrepreneurs Summit in Rüschlikon, Switzerland before Davos.) Just in the knick of time too – or is it? The snow caps that surround this beautiful venue looked like spring – global warming has changed the landscape – and the locals were muttering about spring flowers already in bloom. The leaders of the financial institutions, insurance companies and businesses look nervous.
So what will it take to find and build solutions to our environmental problems and poverty alienation with courage and speed? The debate heated up as the 200 participants gathered there heard what the most prestigious business schools are doing to prepare tomorrows’ business leaders. Many are teaching social entrepreneurship and placing students within social business to help them learn about how a business model can alleviate poverty. Conventional approaches need to be changed, business theories need to be rewritten, case studies and the management systems of social business need to be documented and published. These need to be used by business students and business leaders alike.
At the same time rules about risk need to be rethought, CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) is beginning to do that as large companies look at the impact of bad PR if they use sweat and child labour in the manufacture of their products. Then there are the bold announcements of Marks and Spencer’s to go carbon neutral in 5 years, by planting tress, stocking recycled materials and stopping land filling. All good, positive stuff.
But when you look at the scale of the problem – is it enough? Limited resources, raging consumerism (everyone floating around in a media day dream of desire), a far cry from meeting our commitments to the Millennium Development Goals to wipe out poverty by 2015. Probably the most famous social entrepreneur of all, noble prize winning Mamud Yunus, founder of micro credit Grameen Bank proves that you have to rewrite the rules. To work grass roots up and deliver where opportunities are most needed, with the most marginalised people in our world. These are also the people with the lightest environmental foot print in the world.
Fair Trade does this – which is why New Statesman / Edge Upstart Awards asked me to come and launch the 2007 Awards as 2006 Social Entrepreneur of the Year, a day after I returned from Zurich, Innovating on social and environmental fronts, campaigning to clean up the fashion business and writing up the model so it can be easily scaled-up and emulated – at the same time as running a business.
Paul Coelho, the famous Brazilian author, had a few words of encouragement in his closing remark: “On your hard journey don’t forget to stop and enjoy the view up the mountain– mountains look more frightening from a far than close up.” (He wasn’t talking about the Swiss Alps). Hopefully the leaders of our corporate and financial institutions will soon join the social entrepreneurs and take a leap of faith and support us in our endeavours too!
January 15, 2007
Happy New Year!
Sorry for the rather long silence. I’ve been working at People tree in Japan for three weeks on some amazing projects. We were so busy, I only got two days off over Christmas!
Back in London now, times are exciting too. Two new people have joined our design and technical support team full time, adding energy and dynamism to the design process for our next collection. And that is not Spring Summer 2007 – that collection is at sea at the moment, to be here in time for Fairtrade Fortnight at the end of February. And it is not Autumn Winter 2007 - as that is already in production. We have just had the kick-off meeting for Spring Summer 2008!
All our products are designed to give the maximum benefits to our partners in developing countries. The more work they can do by hand, the more work we can create for them. But handweaving fabric takes a good deal more time than textile production on industrial power looms. Many of our producers are based in villages – not easily accessible cities - so getting products and samples back and forth takes is time-consuming too . As a result our lead times are LONG. Instead of the 4-6 weeks turn around of “fast fashion” production, our collections take 6-8 months to make.
At the kick-off meeting, we start by looking at the skills each group have and then we build up the designs for the next collection with that in mind – all good fun! You can see us at it in the photo!
April 25, 2006
It's official, I'm one of the 50 Happiest People in Britain!
. . . according to The Independent. They call it an antidote to the Sunday Times' Rich List.
I seem to be in good company, with Camilla Parker-Bowles at No 1 Happiest, and Keira Knightley and Rolf Harris. According to the Independent, "Happiness is an elusive state of being" and "There's endless research on what makes us happy: a good sex life, a happy marriage, a network of loyal friends, a tight-knit family, a good laugh [ . . . ] a sense of achievement . . ." My husband's going to be insufferable if he reads the first two.
Oddly, though, I don't recognize anyone on the Happy List experts panel, so how my name could have popped up is rather a mystery. Still, for an ardent and often stern activist, I daresay I do smile a lot. The charming Lord Richard Layard, who wrote a fabulous book 'Happiness: Lessons from a New Science' last year - I met him on a bus - was genuinely confounded at how I could possibly be happy despite working 14-16 hours a day, 6 1/2 days a week, and still love my job after 17 years.
Who ever you are out there - thanks for the acknowledgement. My mum will have to stop worrying about me, now that's it's official that I'm one of the Happiest People in Britain!
March 21, 2006
What did Safia give her Mother for Mother's Day?
Wow! What a Fairtrade Fortnight it's been — with so much press and media coverage of ethical fashion, Fair Trade fashion, and People Tree.
We've been in every national newspaper, and regional ones too — The Guardian, Independent, Financial Times, Sun and Metro amongst others, and across TV channels and the radio with interviews and features including GMTV, Channel 5, BBC Breakfast, Radio Five Live and Radio 4’s Today programme! If you’d like to catch up on some of our press coverage if you missed it, click here.
Other exciting news is that People Tree's sales at Topshop have been much higher than expected — thanks to all of you lovely people who have gone along and bought something. Please keep doing so!
Last week I was shortlisted for the Women in Ethical Business Awards — the first year of these awards — which have been launched by Triodos Bank and Eve Magazine. I joined a great celebration at the Spitz in Spitalfields Market in London, and met up with many old friends and kindred spirits including Romy Fraser, founder of Neal's Yard Remedies. The winner was the fabulous Juliet Davenport, founder of Good Energy, which is a service we can all painlessly switch to, whilst reducing CO2 and promoting greener energy. Could this be the perfect Mother's Day gift? I've recently switched from sending cut flowers to fair trade clothes and fruit trees. Here's to greening our mums!
Candy floss tulle scarf £25 — place your order by midday on Thursday for express UK delivery in time for Mother's Day
March 01, 2006
Spring/Summer Collection out!
People Tree's catalogue is finally out! Producing all the products by hand in villages and marginalised communities around the world, at the same time as producing the People Tree catalogue takes precision co-ordination.
People often ask what is the hardest thing in running a Fair Trade fashion company and I'd have to say that it's ensuring the products are made in time for the launch of the catalogue. And cashflow — we pay producers 50% in advance on placing our order for products - often 8 months before we sell them! Of course the work doesn't stop there — we're constantly in touch with the producers, working alongside them to help give technical advice and ensure that environmental standards are met too.
But why pay producers in advance? The producers we work with are small groups and organisations and have difficulty getting a loan to buy the materials and working capital. If a loan is available the interest rate is often double what we would pay in Britain and can be as high as 40%. This means that even prompt payment from buyers in the Developed World can often make the difference of whether an individual producer gets paid promptly or not. That's why we often say in the Fair Trade movement that it's not only the price paid to the producer for the product but also the 'terms of trade' that make the difference to help build people sustainable livelihoods and strengthen small businesses and social projects in the villages.
When I am travelling in Bangladesh I often meet garment factory workers to find out how conventional fashion works. I meet people who have not been paid their wages on time and have three months overtime outstanding to them — and people who have been dismissed on the spot for asking for what is due to them. Unfair terms of trade, low prices and lack of buyer interest in basic human rights and safety standards are the background to the horrific fire in the cotton mill in Chittangong in Bangladesh that broke out last week in the middle of the night, trapping and killing an estimated 60 people, because the gates were locked.
For People Tree the advance payments are a central part of the Fair Trade relationship with producers, paying a fair price and commiting to a long term relationship.
So please do buy from the catalogue the moment it's out, as we're really rather tight on cash right now. Why? Well if you really want to know People Tree has paid 50% advances on Autumn/Winter '06 orders, and in June we'll be paying final balances on the earliest among them, and at the same time we'll be putting advance payments down on orders for next spring! Sorry if I'm making you feel dizzy — but running a Fair Trade fashion business is dizzy-making! (But you do get used to it).
January 30, 2006
Lunch with Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt
Another report from the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland
I'm pelting around in the snow from hotel to hotel to join meetings on Corporate Social Responsibility, Poverty and Girls Education, Women's Issues, Hunger in Africa, CO2, Social Return on Investment (SROI) etc., using the gathering as a big university campus and a chance to network with kindred spirits.
One chance meeting was at a presentation that I led, "Does an economy need morals?" - at the last moment, two empty chairs opposite me at the lunch table were taken by Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, who were keen to find out more about how People Tree works with small scale producers and the challenges we face. Although she modestly describes herself as a "student of fair trade", Angelina (a Goodwill Ambassador for the UNHCR) really understands human rights and social justice.
When I sat down after delivering my passionate speech, Angelina shot me the most gorgeous smile across the table, and we all discussed together for an hour and half about how, to promote Fair Trade, there needs to be more awareness-raising about the problems with conventional trade. Needless to say I got so carried away I barely touched my lunch.
Clearly we need large corporations to re-evaluate urgently their social and environmental impact on the world. Large corporations need to meet their legal obligations immediately - and one way to make this happen is buying and campaigning for Fair Trade.
Highlight of the day: Dancing at the closing party of the WEF to great jazz with musicians from New Orleans.
At Davos Soirée, with two other social entrepreneurs James Fruchterman, Chairman of Benetech and Martin Fisher, Founder & CEO of KickStart
45% of the world's population don't trust big business
Being creative about solving the world's problems: a report from the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland
This year's WEF agenda encouraged participants to discuss and take the lead to find creative solutions to the world's problems - and gosh, I do hope they move quickly . . . Together with the 2,300 business delegates are world experts from the leading development agencies and environmental NGOs, foundations, universities and think tanks, and us "social entrepreneurs". Forty people like me, all running different companies and organisations at grassroots level, creating livelihoods for the most marginalised people, protecting people's rights.
Someone should write a pocket guide to economics that gives concrete examples of how the so-called "free" market system isn't free at all. I'm sure this is why I gave up my economics A-level half way through, frustrated to hear how Adam Smith's "invisible hand" and "perfect information exchanged between producer and consumer" mean that a fair price can be reached. It doesn't take a particularly bright 17-year-old to work out that the reality is quite different. Presumably most of the business elite at Davos have realized this too, but for some reason the debate always starts on the basis that we have a "free" market, and anything extra for the community at large is nice of companies to do.
A book like this would save a lot of time and might cut down some of the 220 or so other meetings during the 5-day Davos programme. More importantly, it would also help to slow down the exploitation of the world's natural resources and help over a billion people to escape from the poverty trap. It would also help to nurture a better kind of economics and business graduate.
A leading union representative and regular at Davos quite rightly became passionate when reminding the audience at the workshop on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) that ILO labour standards have been agreed by all nations some fifty years ago, so business should not still be ignoring them. In practice the prices of the products that we buy rarely reflect the basic human rights of the people who toil to make them. If companies were simply to meet their legal obligations on labour rights and environmental regulations, we would find that poverty would be reduced on a massive scale. Yes, products might cost a bit more, but I'd rather pay a bit more now, than later, in associated climate change and the continued misery of global poverty and unrest.
Highlight of the day: Having lunch with Rory Stear of Freeplay.
January 25, 2006
What's a nice girl like me doing in a place like this?
Meeting the global elite: A report from the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland
Spending a week with the world's elite in a remote ski resort in Switzerland was the furthest thing from my mind two years ago. Then suddenly, People Tree's work was picked up on the radar screen of Klaus and Hildi Schwab, who as well as being founders of the WEF in 1972, founded the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship. Never having won so much as a swimming prize, I was really surprised to be acknowledged as one of the world's "Outstanding Social Entrepreneurs". And that's how my journey to WEF meetings began.
I am here to share my experience of Fair Trade and how People Tree works to impact poor people's lives in the developing world. I will also be giving a couple of talks on the need for morals and values in business. We all hope we can have some influence on decisions that may otherwise further undermine human rights, development and environmental sustainability.
Social Entrepreneurs (SEs) are people who use a business model for social innovation. I am really lucky to be here with 40 other SEs, working in a range of areas from Fair Trade, income creation, human rights, homelessness, etc. including Mel Young, founder of the Big Issue Scotland, Gillian Caldwell from WITNESS, Sanjit 'Bunker' Roy, founder of Barefoot College India, Martin Fisher, co-founder of Kick-Start East Africa and other amazing people.
Fortunately, whilst travelling here, I had four hours to wade through a programme of hundreds of meetings, to decide what to attend. Scattered over a dozen hotels and the Congress Centre, my Thursday 26th starts at 7am with a breakfast meeting on global issues, moves back and forth around the village between 8 venues, and finishes at 11pm with a Dinner for Civil Society. Just like last month at the WTO Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong (where People Tree put on a Fair Trade Fashion Show to great acclaim and front page news), I find myself not part of the establishment and not part of the protestors; the movement in Social Entrepreneurship is working with one foot in the "business" world and one in the movement for Social Justice.
I'll be shuffling around from place to place in snow boots and ski wear, with my Fair Trade Sunday best underneath and heels in a bag, for the meetings. I'm literally walking the Fair Trade talk. Highlights of the day: sledging 20 minutes down from my hotel to the village, from the pitch black of night (and not being able to stop myself scream) with a dozen other SEs.
Check back soon to find out how I get on.
