Pachacuti - Panama Hats and Fair Trade Clothing

'Creating Opportunities for Marginalised Producers' is the 1st Standard of the World Fair trade Orgnaization.

 

We are delighted that our Panama hats which are woven for Pachacuti by weavers in remote areas of the Ecuadorian highlands are now for sale at a Pop-Up shop in Liberty.  These women have very few opportunities open to them: many are single mothers or wives of alcoholic husbands and they are reliant on income from agriculture and hat weaving.  Many are forced to migrate to cities in search of low paid domestic work, leaving behind their culture and their community.

I believe that this is fantastic example of how opportunities can be created for marginalised producers if they are better organised, resourced and supported through the work of Fair Trade.  Pachacuti's producer groups are now able to secure access to one of the most prestigious stores in London under fair trade conditions, providing them with a decent and dignified livelihood.

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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.

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We spent most of this week in Cuenca, Ecuador, travelling several hours each day on winding roads to see our two panama hat co-operatives in the region.

Sara and Mark spent the first few days working on Quality Control and finalising ribbons and trims for our SS10 collection. I didn't get to our main Panama hat association until Wednesday as I had to make a presentation to members of WFTO Latin America in Quito. Several Latin American members are starting to implement the Sustainable Fair Trade Management System and I talked about the tools we had developed to assess our producer groups.

I arrived at the hat weavers HQ to find the courtyard filled with the record-breaking 'biggest hat in the world'. Very impressive and HUGE! Around 100 weavers had gathered, all in their finest clothes, and were sitting around the giant Panama hat, weaving as they waited for the day's festivities to commence.

Sara, Mark and I were shown upstairs to a large meeting room, filled with our Panama hat weavers, along with the mayoress and local dignitaries from the town. The surprise ceremony for me started with the Ecuadorian on Wednesdaynational anthem. I stood at the front as guest of honour, looking out on all these women and realising the huge responsibility which I bear in getting enough orders to ensure that they earn enough money to feed them and their families each year. They rely on me for 95% of their orders.

After a short, taped 'musical interlude' which was quite amusing, it was time for a poem written by one of the weavers to Senora Carry. Next, it was time for the presentation of a plaque by the mayoress of the canton in appreciation of my work in the community. Very moving and was trying to hold back tears. Then realised that both Mark and Sara were finding it all very emotional as well! After another musical interlude, it was a song about hat weaving dedicated to me and then a glass of very sweet bubbly. Just as I thought it was all over and I could get to work as everyone moved downstairs, another celebration started in the courtyard. Several dances by small groups of weavers from different communities, one involving dancing around fireworks and another with one boy dressed as a soldier and another dressed as a pig who had obviously got the day off school for this special occasion! Then another really beautiful song by Zoila Aleman, a weaver proudly sporting the glasses we had bought for her a few years ago. Finally, some loud music started playing from speakers and Sara and I had to get up and dance with the dignitaries for about 10 minutes - not easy at that altitude! Finally, the celebration drew to an end and we were taken through to the dining room where Guinea Pig was served. Delicious crackling!

It really was such an incredible honour to have this ceremony thrown for me and the weavers and community had obviously spent a long time preparing for it. Now I have to do my part and try to increase our Panama Hat orders for 2010 so that the weavers all have enough work for next year.

Here is our stand at Estethica, London Fashion Week. Was delighted
that the two lovely merchandising girls from Liberty loved the Panamas
and said they could really see them working in Liberty...and we'd love
to supply them.

Later in the week, not only Liberty came by, but all the big stores. I was just so overwhelmed that everyone loved our hats. All of the major magazines and newspapers came by and Vogue even rang the office a few days later to request photos. Very exciting times for Pachacuti.

Just in time for World Fair Trade Day!

Pachacuti is the first 100% Fair Trade company to complete the Pilot for the World Fair Trade Organisation's new certification process. We have been audited by certified EU auditors, both in the UK and in South America. As part of the requirements of the SFTMS standard, we have completed our first Fair Trade Report which gives details of our fair trade and environmental work from last year and commitments undertaken during the current year. To download a copy of the report click on the following link:

Pachacuti Fair Trade Report 2008-9

We have finally completed the SFTMS - the first pilot fair trade organisation in the world to pass through the process and be audited. It has been a lot of work and a steep learning curve over the past 9 months for myself, Mark, my staff and all of our producer groups in Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. This month an auditor visited some of our Ecuadorian producer groups and we also received an auditor at our Ashbourne offices. We have completed our first Fair Trade report which gives details of our fair trade and environmental work last year and commitments undertaken during the current year as a result of our assessments of producer groups carried out last October.

All of our producer groups have kept to their action plans which are bringing about social, health and safety and capacity building improvements. For example, our embroidery group have all had eye tests and I will be buying glasses for those who need them. It seems that a lot of the embroiderers require an eye operation rather than glasses and so this will be a large additional expense. However, the embroiderers themselves certainly do not have the finances for an operation and so this will have to be paid for by Pachacuti.

We have seen so many improvements since starting work on the SFTMS in terms of our relationship with our producers, particularly with regard to implementing quality control checks, improving processes and procedures and finding ways to improve transatlantic communication. It has really brought about long-lasting benefits to the way we operate and we are excited to be the first Fair Trade organisation in the world to have completed the pilot. We look forward to the eventual launch of the label by the WFTO as we hope that this certification will lead to increased sales from mainstream buyers and bring lasting benefit to our producer groups.

We have recently completed our first baseline for the SFTMS (Sustainable Fair Trade Management System) with 8 producer groups in Ecuador, Bolivia and Peru. The assessments were led by Belen Sanchez, a Masters student from Ecuador who worked with us as an intern for two months over the summer and developed the tools for this work. I gave a presentation to each group about Fair Trade and the work of Pachacuti in South America and took notes throughout the process and Mark Rogers, my husband, did the Eco Mapping and took photographs of the day's activities.

The assessments took the form of 1-2 day long meetings designed to engage and elicit input from each group’s administration, employees and/or homeworkers. Each assessment involved:

1. Pre-screening in the UK- analysing market, legal, quality and customer requirements pertinent to each group
2. Fair Trade Principles Analysis– investigating producers’ understanding of and adherence to Fair Trade princples.
3. Group Structure/Organigram- defining different roles within each group to facilitate communication
4. Employees / Homeworkers Feedback- providing feedback from the workers on how Fair Trade is affecting their lives, covering issues such as Fair Wage, Training, Satisfaction with the quantity of work, Health and Safety and Satisfaction with the management of the group.
5. Production flow chart- analysing the workflow of the organisation with the aim of implementing quality control practices in the production process
6. Eco-mapping- identifying social, environmental and health and safety issues in our producer’s production processes and premises
7. Working plan- mutually identifying and prioritising actions to be implemented as a result of discussion about the above points which will improve their adherence to fair trade principles and our fair trade business relationship.

I believe that the SFTMS baseline assessment allowed us to gain a greater understanding of our producer groups and provided a basis for effectively communicating and planning our fair trade business relationship. Feedback provided by the groups generally found the SFTMS baseline assessments to be a very rewarding and educational experience for them.

A few common observances were deduced from our SFTMS baseline assessment experience.
The SFTMS:
1. Provides a structured and objective way of looking at each organisation and their FT business relationship with Pachacuti. This was the first time for many groups to sit down and take a strategic look at their business and how it works.
2. Cleared up confusion, over what is Fair Trade and the FT requirements. Remarkably, after a 7 year trading relationship with Pachacuti, one group still thought Fair Trade was a european company .
3. Helped to identify weaknesses and opportunities for improvement within each organisation and their fair trade relationship with Pachacuti. During the assessments, most organisations appointed new responisibilities to members which will improve their efficiency.
4. Gives a greater voice to the workers. By speaking directly to us without management present, workers were able to give unhindered feedback about the amount they were being paid, their health and safety, skills development and the general conditions of their work. This allows Pachacuti to have real information to assess and develop how our fair trade activities can improve the quality of our producers lives.
5. Immediate positive impacts to the health and safety of our workers. Many workers complained about the dust from raw materials, but didn’t like wearing their mask while working. We agreed with management that a new policy be implemented making workers wear masks when needed. Pachacuti has also agreed to purchase 2 professional respirators for chemical handling. We have also agreed to pay for eye tests for our embroiderers and look into ways of providing glasses for all 80 members of the embroidery group and will pay for a medical examination for our alpaca knitters who cannot afford to visit the doctor.
6. Gave us greater insight into the importance of the organisations for the participating members. We were told by one embroidery group- “We are more than a business, we are community and a family.” Another group of knitters said – “There are no chiefs here- we are all equal parts of the community. “
7. Highlighted positive environmental improvements already being made by our groups. We were very pleased to see the water filtering and recycling system of our hat producers and the solar hot water heater of our natural dye knitters. We are also exploring how we might be able fund one group’s water motor project as part of our carbon offsetting.
8. Strengthen Pachacuti’s ability to offer assistance to our suppliers. By taking an in-depth look into how our suppliers work, we were able to pass on best business practice.
9. Allows producers to direct how Fair Trade will benefit them the most. By developing an annual action plan with Pachacuti, producers prioritise and commit to activities which will strengthen their organisation.

The trip provided a valuable insight into the work of our producers and we were really pleased with the standards which we saw and the feedback which we received about the difference which our fair trade purchasing makes to the producers and their communities.

The RE:Fashion Awards are the first awards dedicated to ethical fashion and I am very pleased to have been selected as a finalist in two categories, Re:People and Re:Business. The awards are designed to recognise designers and manufacturers who are making the fashion industry more ethical and sustainable through improving social and environmental standards.

The judging panel includes Katharine Hamnett, Hilary Alexander and Jane Shepherdson. It sounds as if it will be a very glamorous evening culminating in a fashion show featuring outfits by Vivienne Westwood, Zandra Rhodes, Preen and more.

Having spent the past three weeks in Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia carrying out a busy schedule of producer workshops to analyse and improve ethical and environmental standards with our producers, I certainly feel that the nomination has come at a very appropriate time. We are carrying out the pilot for the Sustainable Fair Trade Management System which will certify the production process, as opposed to the current label on the raw materials. As such, we have worked with each producer group to look at issues ranging from a fair price to health and safety to recycling of waste.

The findings were fascinating and we have strengthened the relationship with our producer groups as a result. In addition, we now have an action plan for the next year, both for ourselves and each producer group, in order to improve any areas where we have identified the need for improvement. This has ranged from undertaking to pay for sight tests and finding charities providing reduced price glasses for the embroiderers of our childrenswear to looking into the creation of a Spring/Summer range of alpaca/silk knitwear for 2010 as many of our knitters desperately need more work in the early Spring.

On the whole, we were incredibly impressed by all of our producer groups and their commitment to Fair Trade values and environmental compliance. Whilst carrying out an Eco Map of our panama hat associations premises, we found they had recently installed a complete water recycling system to re-use all water used in the production process. In Bolivia, our natural dye group had a solar water heater waiting to be installed.

The most common problems were probably the most easy to address: health issues resulting from workers not wearing face masks, which in most cases they possessed but they didn't like wearing them!

We worked with several of the groups to look at their pricing policy, calculating everything from the cost of raw materials to the minimum wage for everyone involved in the production process down to final cent for the bag to deliver the goods to the shipper. It was very rewarding to hear from groups about how excited they were to have a Pachacuti order as they knew they would earn more money.

However, there is still a lot more to do and many more of our producers who, although paid a good price for the items they make for us, are just not making the volume of products to earn a good living. Despite the economic gloom, I know that the clothing and accessories we make sell incredibly well for us and for our trade customers - I just need to find more outlets for their beautiful products so that I can keep these women in year round employment, supporting their families and strengthening their communities.