Pachacuti - Panama Hats and Fair Trade Clothing

A pioneer in fair trade fashion, Carry Somers established Pachacuti in 1992 after completing an MA in Native American Studies. On a research trip to Ecuador she was shocked by the inequitable trading patterns where intermediaries made all the profits. On returning to the UK she read Anita Roddick’s autobiography and decided that, if one woman could have such a positive impact on the beauty industry, there was nothing to stop her doing the same for the fashion industry.   Carry returned to Ecuador and gave two co-operatives the financial resources to buy raw materials in bulk and, with no background in design, produced a series of knitwear patterns which proved so popular that they sold out in six weeks. Seeing the tangible difference this made to the producers’ livelihoods encouraged her to give up her PhD and concentrate on improving the lives of more producer groups in the Andean region.

Carry experienced an initial setback six months into the business when an armed robber in Ecuador stole a large amount of cash from a loan destined for purchasing her next collection. However, she was determined to persevere and lived in a van in order to save money to pay back the loan and continue to support her producers. Pachacuti is now a rapidly growing business with a shop in Ashbourne, mail order department and a wholesale business which supplies 300 retailers around the world.

Pachacuti is the first Fair Trade organisation to complete the pilot for the new World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO) certification process. The pilot label was launched in November 2009 and Pachacuti became the first international Fair Trade organisation to be able to put ‘Certified Fair Trade and Sustainable’ on all of our product range.It certifies that our organisation has a proven set of practices, procedures and processes which demonstrate social, economic and environmental responsibility.

PACHACUTI