Feature on Pachacuti and other Fair Trade and local producers from Ashbourne
The Guardian Life & Style December 09 Pachacuti: A Fair Trade Pioneer Pachacuti is the first in the world to be awarded an innovative new sustainability label. Rachel Holmes meets the company's founder, Carry Somers Click here to read
I just came across these photographs of Emma Watson wearing Pachacuti, complementing her clothing collection for People Tree.
You can see the whole Emma Watson for People Tree range on the People Tree website where you can read the story behind Emma Watson's collaboration with People Tree, as well as see images and videos from the photoshoot such as the one below.
Emma says that this collection is important because “It's fabulous, colourful, comfy, summery and everything you could want in your summer wardrobe. And it's not made using nasty chemicals', it's not going to damage the environment and it's not going to make anyone sick or ill. And it's Fair Trade so you are actively helping someone who is living in poor conditions, by buying these clothes you are changing someone's life. It's a really feel good thing to wear. You can feel good about yourself as you will look great and be changing lives.”
I am delighted and honoured to be a finalist in the Women on their Way Awards in the Outstanding Contribution to Women's Learning and Development category. Apparently the competition was very tough this year and so I'm very happy to have reached this stage, particularly as I only found out about the awards through Twitter the day before they closed and had to stay up very late to do a last-minute entry!
The Women on their Way Awards were set up by former candidate on The Apprentice, Jo Cameron, and her Co-Director Lisa Ibbotson. The aim of Women on Their Way is to inspire women around the world to improve their lives, moving towards equality.
This week I spent two wonderful days in Paris and have come back to the UK feeling refreshed and stimulated. On the first day I went to Modamont, the trimmings show, and was really impressed to find several European family companies producing hat ribbon and able to custom-make quantities as small as 100m with our own stripes, colours and prints. I also visited L'Aiguille en Fete (The Needle Festival) Pro, an international trade show dedicated to textile crafts.
A short video showing the journey of our Panama Hats, from the sustainable, organic, community owned plantation which is encouraging biodiversity, through to our co-operatives of women weavers high in the Andes.
The song is by one of the pensioners we support from the co-operative, Zoila German. We have bought her a pair of glasses, as you can see from the video, and we are currently trying to raise money to buy glasses for a further 65 weavers.
When I arrived in Ecuador to carry out research for my MA in Native American Studies, I never imagined that 20 years later I would be supporting 1200 traditional textile producers throughout the Andean region.On that first research trip to study textile production, I was shocked to see how the market was controlled by middlemen.I met two groups of workers who had organised themselves into co-operatives, but both had experienced arson attacks due to the threat which they posed to the intermediaries' monopoly of the supply chain.
Outraged by these clear injustices, I decided to return to Ecuador in order to provide a sales outlet for these groups who were unable to trade locally. Knitting was introduced as a means of income by Peace Corps volunteers in the 60s and the market in the Plaza de Ponchos was full of the ubiquitous fair isle jumper with very little design development taking place. Armed with a book on petroglyphs from the Imbabura and Carchi regions, I drew some designs, combined them with natural dyes and hand-fired raku buttons featuring pre-Colombian designs, and my first knitwear collection was born.My intention was to sell the knitwear at fairs over the summer before starting my fully-funded PhD in Andean textiles.However, I hadn't envisaged the success of my first collection, nor realised the positive impact it would have on my producers' livelihoods, so at the end of the summer I reluctantly turned down my PhD.
Pachacuti is working on a pilot for an exciting and groundbreaking project called the Geo Fair Trade project, to provide Geo-traceability for Fair Trade supply chains. The project will develop new social, economic and environmental indicators based on geographic data, resulting in transparency and traceability for the whole product chain from the producers to the consumers. One of our partners in Ecuador, a womens' panama hat association, has been selected for this pilot.
An exciting opportunity has arisen for an internship with them for a six month period, or with one of the other five pilots:
Coffee in Minas Gerais state - Brazil Shea Butter in Burkina Faso Tea in Uganda Vanilla in Madagascar Cashew, coffee, and spices in Kerala state - India
Ethical fashion company Pachacuti is the first in the world to be awarded an innovative new sustainability label. Rachel Holmes meets the company's founder, Carry Somers
I love alpaca for a winter hat keeps you warm and cosy but is also lightweight. One of the best reasons for buying alpaca is that it continues to look great for years to come as it contains natural resins which prevent the fibres from ageing.
The felt fedora is a great choice for a winter hat as it is naturally water-repellent and is great for this drizzly winter weather - no need to have to remember an umbrella every day, just wear your fedora with style!
Emma says that this collection is important because “It's fabulous, colourful, comfy, summery and everything you could want in your summer wardrobe. And it's not made using nasty chemicals', it's not going to damage the environment and it's not going to make anyone sick or ill. And it's Fair Trade so you are actively helping someone who is living in poor conditions, by buying these clothes you are changing someone's life. It's a really feel good thing to wear. You can feel good about yourself as you will look great and be changing lives.”
When I arrived in Ecuador to carry out research for my MA in Native American Studies, I never imagined that 20 years later I would be supporting 1200 traditional textile producers throughout the Andean region.
The Pachacuti Sale is now on! 