Pachacuti - Panama Hats and Fair Trade Clothing

In the aftermath of another garment factory disaster, Fair Trade pioneers call on mainstream fashion brands to adopt best practice standards 

Yesterday, an eight-storey building, housing garment factories and shops, collapsed in Dhaka, killing over 200 and injuring over 1600.  Fair Trade pioneers meeting in London today called upon all fashion brands sourcing in Bangladesh to improve health and safety and labour standards within the workplace.   

Fair Trade Pioneers are calling upon brands who source, or have sourced from these factories to fund immediate compensation for injuries and for loss of earnings, and for families who have lost their loved ones and their breadwinners.  We also call on all brands sourcing in Bangladesh to sign and enforce the Bangladesh Fire and Building Safety Agreement.

It is estimated that an additional 7p per garment over 5 years could pay for all necessary renovations to garment factories in Bangladesh.  Can consumers really not pay this little extra to ensure the safety of the people who make their clothes?  

Most Bangladeshi garment workers earn the minimum wage which is amongst the lowest in the world and would only cover just over half the monthly cost of living in a slum.

Fair Trade creates opportunities for hundreds of people in Bangladesh in the rural areas, to hand weave, hand embroider and tailor garments through Fair Trade at fair wages, and for hundreds more in other countries. Consumers can ask brands to take responsibility and meet the real human cost of producing fashion. Consumers can choose fashion which empowers rather than exploits. We need to find a solution to the downward spiral of low prices that force factory owners and workers alike to take ridiculous risks with their safety and health day after day. 

Safia Minney, MBE Founder and CEO of People Tree – UK & Japan 

“‘In 18 years of working with the Bangladeshi trade unions and visiting garment workers in their homes, I regularly hear them ask “Do the people in your country really want us to work this hard for so little money? Do they understand how hungry and desperate our living situation is?” Two million workers, mostly young women, generate 80% of the country’s exports – but they earn a minimum wage of just £25 per month. The trade unions have been asking for a multi stake holder approach for years. This is exactly what Fair Trade does. The garment industry has a lot to learn from the Fair Trade movement. ” 

Carry Somers, Founder and Managing Director at Pachacuti – Ashbourne – UK 

“This tragedy starkly highlights the difference in labour standards between fast, cheap fashion and Fair Trade fashion. Disposable fashion should not equate to disposable lives and brands have a responsibility to ensure safer working conditions. Pachacuti received a comprehensive Fair Trade audit yesterday and monitoring of our producers working conditions was pronounced ‘excellent’ by the auditor. If Pachacuti, as a micro business, can carry out comprehensive monitoring of all suppliers, why can’t larger fashion brands?” 

Christine Gent, Director at Fairly Covered - Brighton – UK 

“If you subscribe to Fair Trade then being transparent about your supply chain, engaging with the people who make the goods to ensure that basic requirements are met is not up for negotiation. Fair Trade for us is about making socially and environmentally sustainable bedding not just making money! Fairly Covered imports Fair Trade sustainable bedding from Bangladesh, hand woven in rural situations creating and maintaining jobs outside Dhaka.” 

Members of the World Fair Trade Organisation go beyond minimum compliance criteria and actively involve producers and employees in all decision making and works to improve working conditions within producer groups.  Pachacuti carries out eco-mapping of each one of our producer premises to identify environmental and health & safety issues in our producers’ production processes and premises, examining use of water, storage of chemicals, health of workers, machinery & emissions, use of energy, risk of accident and contamination.  

WFTO is a global community of pioneering and passionate change-makers, responsible for the development of the sustainable Fair Trade economy. WFTO’s 450 members are organisations differentiated by their 100% Fair Trade commitment to eradicate poverty through sustainable economic development. WFTO has a vision of a world in which trade structures and practices have been transformed to work in favour of the poor and promote sustainable development and justice.

When London won the bid to host the 2012 Olympics, their aim was to make it the greenest, cleanest and most sustainable games ever held.  However, in spite of the positive reports issued in advance of the Games, there is now a suspicion of greenwashing hanging over the event.

A few years ago, I was appointed the Olympic representative for the UK Fair Trade Leaders Forum.  I had read the procurement guidelines of LOCOG, organisers of the London 2012 Games, and was encouraged by the tendering information which suggested that Fair Trade was a desirable criteria for uniform procurement. 

As far back as November 2003 in the document Bidding for the 2012 Olympic Games: A contribution from the London Assembly it was stated in article 2.16 "Finally, procurement should support local sourcing and fair trade as well as environmental best practice".  The Olympic bid uniforms were designed and sourced by Jeff Banks, with whom we have worked on past occasions, producing uniforms for Tour de France officials.  I am convinced that, had Jeff Banks won the bid for the Olympic uniforms, the sourcing would have met ethical standards and would certainly have been Fair Trade wherever possible. 

The Mayor of London’s Responsible Procurement Report was issued in February 2008 which complemented the government’s Sustainable Development Strategy of March 2005. It recognised the role that procurement can have in delivering the sustainable development agenda and set a target for the UK to become one of the leaders in the EU on sustainable procurement by 2009.

The Responsible Procurement Policy consists of seven themes:
•    encouraging a diverse base of suppliers
•    promoting fair employment practices
•    promoting workforce welfare
•    addressing strategic labour needs and enabling training
•    community benefits
•    ethical sourcing practices; and
•    promoting greater environmental sustainability.

Finally, the London 2012 Sustainability Plan: Towards a one planet 2012 was produced which stated under the heading of Procurement and Materials that there should be 'ethical procurement and fair employment'.

It seemed at the time that the groundwork had been laid and policies and recommendations put in place within the tendering guidelines to ensure that all textiles and uniforms met high ethical and sustainability standards.  Encouraged by what I had read, I approached Next the week after they had won the tender for the Olympic uniforms.  As the representative of the UK Fair Trade Leaders Forum, I was  representing a number of the leading Fair Trade companies in the UK, some of whom had experience of producing uniforms and many of whom were involved in producing textiles using  Fairtrade cotton.  As for my experience, not only had we already supplied Panama hats for many sporting occasions (Wimbledon, Tour de France), but I had also co-founded Clean Slate, the UK's first Fair Trade School Uniform supplier.  So, in August 2010 I contacted the relevant people at Next who were working on the uniform procurement by email, letter and phone … and heard nothing more from them.

I was sceptical as to how well the ethical procurement and fair employment would be adhered to, particularly in the light of their disinterest in even commencing dialogue with the leading Fair Trade companies in the UK,  but tried to remain positive. That is, until the stories of exploitation and sweatshop labour started to filter through.

In May I received an email from Labour Behind the Label about a new report: Fair Games? Not for workers making Olympic branded kit.  The report showed that abuses still existed in Olympic supply chains, with the workers making Olympic 2012 branded sportswear for brands including Adidas and Next were being paid poverty wages, forced to work excessive overtime and threatened with instant dismissal if they complain about working conditions.  The report investigate working conditions in 10 sportswear factories in China, Sri Lanka and the Philippines, uncovering systematic and widespread exploitation.  You can read more about the report here

A further message from Labour Behind the Label later in May said that, although the pressure from the Playfair 2012 campaign had meant that LOCOG had gone further than any previous Games in trying to protect workers' rights within the supply chains, it was now time for the International Olympic Committee to take responsibility and end this exploitation, if not in time for London 2012, then for Rio 2016.

And so to the headlines I read in the Independent on 27 June, the day before writing this blog, as I travelled to London by train to the Business in the Community Awards to recognise responsible business practice (neither Next nor Adidas was in attendance, needless to say)  The headlines really say it all: Forced Labour Claims Dent Image of London 2012. 

According to the Independent, workers at the factory in Sri Lanka producing official Olympic clothing for Next are alleging poverty wages, forced overtime and unrealistic targets.    This is not an isolated incident, arising as it did out of a wider investigation into Olympic brands which found "widespread abuse of the human rights of workers" in eight factories around the world.

Next weekend Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 July, the War on Want High Street re-brand will take place.  War on Want have printed alternative price tags, which you can order from them in advance, which expose the real cost of Adidas clothing - exploitation. 

It needn't have been this way.  The clothing could so easily have been ethical, Fair Trade, recycled, organic - truly sustainable for the workers and the planet.  But, as usual, profits get in the way and the principle of the Greenest, Cleanest, most Sustainable Games ever certainly seems unlikely to be achieved on the fashion front. 

In terms of the construction of the Olympic Park and facilities, the facts appear more promising, including re-used and recycled materials, 58% fewer carbon emissions than comparable sites, rainwater collection and extensive use of renewable energy.  The food too has been a success story, with Fairtrade coffee, tea, chocolate, sugar, bananas, wine and oranges available in Olympic venues and Fairtrade flowers for the winners.  Belize will be supplying 10 million sachets of Fairtrade certified sugar which is great news for their sugar farmers!

Let's hope that Rio can set higher ethical standards in 2016. There is strong support from the Brazilian government for Fair Trade, evidenced by their support in hosting the World Fair Trade Organization conference next year.  But can they convince companies who win the tenders play fairly?  

I believe that nothing is likely to change until they tighten up tendering for the Olympics and choose companies on their commitment to sustainability and ethical working practices, rather than the highest bidder winning the privilege of making the uniforms.

In the meantime, Pachacuti is delighted to be working with Jeff Banks and the Belize Olympic Team to provide Fair Trade Panama Hats for their Great Gatsby inspired Opening Ceremony uniforms.  The Panama hats are Fair Trade Certified from our women's association in Ecuador and have been trimmed in Scotland by Yvette Jelfs.  Fair Trade and Sustainable.

I may well be biased,  but I honestly do think they look a lot nicer than the Team GB uniforms. 

Now all I need is a ticket to see them process around the stadium ….

Vogue is undoubtedly to be congratulated on devoting several pages to ethical fashion in their April issue as very few fashion magazines are prepared to devote six entire pages to ethical issues.  Likewise, Alexa Chung's commitment to ethical fashion is not to be doubted.

However, it is extremely unfortunate that there were several errors within the feature which I feel it is important to highlight as they will be misleading to anyone without a prior knowledge of ethical fashion.

The first glaring error I came upon was the amount of clothing sent to landfill a year.  2 tons?  As one person replied to my tweet about this error, I bet that's just what their staff throw out!  According to a BBC feature in 2009 the actual figure was closer to 2 million tons of clothing being discarded every year  Only around 16% of used clothing is reused or recycled. 

Just think, if everyone recycled their clothing and took good quality garments to charity shops, more of you may find bargains like the £10 pair of silk Valentino trousers I picked  when I ran into the Cancer Research shop in Ashbourne looking for a lightweight pair of trousers for the Ecuadorian Amazon later this week! 

Seriously though, we have to reduce cotton production as, in addition to the well-publicised health effects of the pesticides used, wider issues include the diminishing Aral Sea which is being drained for cotton irrigation and the overgrazing of grasslands for cashmere goats in China.  See the Traid website for further information.

The second error was in the definition of Fair Trade, a concept given very little space in the feature.   This is possibly due to the difficulty of carrying out Fair Trade within the fashion industry.  Pachacuti was the only Fair Trade company showing at  the Estethica exhibition in London Fashion Week this year.

Although I am sure that the confusion of Fairtrade and Fair Trade is common, I would have expected a well-researched Vogue article to have some basic idea of the concept of Fair Trade two words, as opposed to Fairtrade one word.

Fairtrade is only applicable to commodities, which in the fashion industry means cotton.  The Fairtrade label is a guarantee that the production of the raw material has met the standards established by FLO, the Fairtrade Labelling Organisation, guaranteeing a price which covers the cost of production and a premium to invest back into their business or community.  The Fairtrade mark only applies to the particular product on which the label is displayed.

The accepted definition of Fair Trade is as follows:
“Fair Trade is a trading partnership, based on dialogue, transparency and respect, that seek greater equity in international trade. It contributes to sustainable development by offering better trading conditions to, and securing the rights of, marginalised producers and workers – especially in the South. Fair Trade Organisations, backed by  consumers, are engaged actively  in supporting producers,  awareness  raising  and  in campaigning  for  changes  in  the  rules  and practice  of conventional international trade.” 

Many people believe that Fair Trade is just about a fair price, but Fair Trade goes much further than this as there are 9 principles other than the fair price. Fair Trade companies such as People Tree and Pachacuti follow the Charter of Fair Trade Principles. 

1 Creating Opportunities for Economically Disadvantaged Producers
2 Transparency and Accountability
3  Fair Trading Practices & the protection and promotion of Cultural Identity
4 Fair Price
5  Ensuring no Child Labor and Forced Labor
6 Commitment to Non Discrimination, Gender Equity and Freedom of Association
7 Ensuring Good Working Conditions
8 Providing Capacity Building
9 Promoting Fair Trade
10 Respect for the Environment

Pachacuti was the first company in the world to be Fair Trade Certified by the World Fair Trade Organisation, a guarantee of the highest social and environmental standards throughout the supply chain.  

I think that part of my frustration stems from the fact that Fair Trade is not easy and we all work so hard to, for instance, provide training to producers or improve environmental standards, and yet Fair Trade is still only seen as being about a fair price. 

In order to obtain our Fair Trade certification, I spent at least 20 hours a week for 6 months working towards the certification, carrying out assessments of each producer group (analysing supply chains, eco-mapping premises, interviewing workers, mapping raw materials to ensure local supply chains) and creating an annual action plan for each group.  I am currently in Ecuador carrying out the next round of assessments for our upcoming audit.

In the case of the Vogue article, it only saw the fair price in terms of the cotton farmer and did not recognise that Fair Trade (two words) should give rise to a much broader definition of Fair Trade which applies to the entire fashion supply chain, including every aspect of the construction of the garment or accessory, not just the raw material.

At Pachacuti, our Fair Trade certification means we don't just look down the supply chain but we also look at how the Fair Trade principles affect our work in the UK, which has led us to convert all of our electric and gas in our studio and shop to Ecotricity, for example, and we calculate the CO2 for all of our travel and freight each year.

Alexa Chung and Vogue are to be commended for the inclusion of the ethical special in the April issue and I hope that it will help to make readers think more about the production and disposal of their garments. It is just such a shame that the research wasn't carried out a little more thoroughly!  Still, there is always next year's ethical special...

'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.