Pachacuti - Panama Hats and Fair Trade Clothing

Easter Bonnets were traditionally decorated with flowers as a way to celebrate Spring.  Spring may still seem far off as I write with deep snow drifts surrounding our cottage, but here are some perfect Easter hats just to tempt you for when the temperature starts to rise.  Easter has traditionally been the time to change those winter clothes for some bright new Spring shades and a hat is a perfect way to bring some of the season's signature colours into your wardrobe.  Rather than Easter Eggs, think sugared almonds...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pachacuti's Delaunay Panama has a great, vintage brocade ribbon, whilst the Margarita brings in some on-trend pink with just a hint of the season's hottest colour, fuschia, as an accent on the hat band.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My favourite hat of the season is this Lemon Voyager, rollable and flattering, it's a great hat for so many different occasions and definitely the one I'll be taking on holiday this year.  Yellow is not only symbolic of Easter, but also conveys a strong sense of optimism.  I'll certainly be happy when Spring really does show its face. Meanwhile, in a fabulous rose and lemon combination, the Miami Deco with its extra wide brim is definitely a hat for keeping cool once the temperature really does start to rise.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It may be a while until your holidays, but this Aqua hat will remind you of swimming in warm coastal waters.  Pastel aqua is a flattering colour for many people and combines well with so many other shades.  Pachacuti is working to incorporate more traditional skills from various producers into each of our hats and this Rose Maya Panama hat has a hand-loomed, Fair Trade ribbon and, as we ensure that all elements of our hat are as ethically sourced as possible, even the leather loop is Fair Trade.

 

Happy Easter from Pachacuti and don't forget your Easter bonnet!

 

 

I was honoured and delighted to collect an award inscribed with the words 'Outstanding Fashion Design' at the Sustainable City Awards last night. 

 

Pachacuti won the award for Sustainable Fashion Designer, with Auria London's ethical swimwear collection, made in the UK, picking up highly commended in the category.  In the Fashion Retailer category, the award went to Marks & Spencer, with highly commended to People Tree.

 

 

Prior to the awards, I had a photo session with Livia Firth on the balcony of Mansion House and this morning the photos are popping up everywhere, from the Daily Telegraph to Vogue.  

Livia Firth and the British Fashion Council teamed up for the first ever awards for Fashion since the Sustainable City Awards commenced 12 years ago. 

 

Other judges included Tamsin Blanchard of the Daily Telegraph, model Erin O'Connor and Orsola de Castro, co-founder of From Somewhere.

 

 

Livia has long been a fan of Pachacuti hats and last year we commenced a collaboration for Livia Firth Designs for Yoox.  Pictured are Livia's AW12 designs and her SS13 designs for Pachacuti are now available on Yoox.

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the best things about the awards was the chance to catch up with ethical fashion friends. Unlike conventional perceptions of the fashion industry, ethical fashion is genuinely supportive and collaborative, with designers sharing best practice, sourcing and manufacturing advice.  Living outside of the fashion hub of London, it is always wonderful to have an opportunity to meet my many friends within the industry.

 

Orsola de Castro of From Somewhere, Diana Auria Harris of Auria swimwear, myself and Nicola Woods of Beautiful Soul

 

 

Of course, Pachacuti would not exist without the dedication of our Fair Trade producer groups in Ecuador, co-operatives, women's associations and small family workshops.  Pachacuti is working to ensure the survival of hat making and millinery skills in Ecuador, which are in danger of dying out, through fair wages, training, capacity building, design expertise, social and medical assistance. We are delighted that our 21 years of work in sustainable development and the promotion of traditional skills has been recognised by this award.

 

 Thanks also to our fantastic team in Ashbourne who keep everything running smoothly and do all of the hard work behind the scenes.

 

                             Thank you to all of you for your part in this award.

Today is the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty which has been observed every year since 1993 when the General Assembly of the UN designated this day to promoting awareness of the need to eradicate poverty.  At the Millennium Summit, world leaders committed to cut by half the number of people living in extreme poverty, currently measured as earning less than $1.25 a day, by 2015.

I came across this fascinating infographic from the UN Regional Information Centre for Western Europe which clearly sets out the links between literacy levels and poverty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At Pachacuti we are committed to improving the livelihoods of our producers, their families and their communities and one of the principal ways in which we achieve this, in addition to paying a fair wage, is working to improve education and literacy levels within families so that the next generation are able to earn a higher wage than their parents.

How do we achieve this? Firstly we carried out research into levels of education and literacy as part of our work on the EU Geo Fair Trade Project.  We discovered that, although 91.6% of our producers claim to be literate (a figure I doubt when I see the number of Xs instead of signatures in the list of Association members) only 37.3% have completed Primary School education and nobody, out of the 154 members interviewed, had finished Secondary education.  As a result of this knowledge which was gathered 2 years ago, we have dramatically changed the way in which we work with our producers: spec sheets which are as visual as possible, visual Health & Safety, Quality Control, Handling of Chemicals and similar presentations on an annual basis. We also pay for our producers to attend courses, from IT to pattern cutting, from self-esteem to human relations, continuing to learn is an important element of our work.  Our Panama hat weavers received 18 full days of training in 2010 and 19.5 in 2011.

However, we also focus very much on improving the education of our producers' families.  Over Pachacuti's 20 years, I have been delighted to see many of our producers children, and some of our producers, go to University.   However, a survey of our Panama hat weavers' children revealed that the average school leaving age was still 12, principally due to the fact that there are not enough secondary school places in the village and many have to learn by distance learning courses, from which they find it easy to drop out.

In 2009 and 2010, our weaving association was the base for a programme of schooling and food which supported 60 of the weavers' children in 2009 and 48 in 2010 to remain at secondary school.   The lower 2010 figure is actually positive as it means that less children were in need of grants to encourage them to remain at school, rather than dropping out and beginning under-age work.

 

A dining room provided a daily lunch and there was also a disability grant administered to provide educational support for those with mental and physical disabilities in surrounding communities.  Income from Pachacuti's Fair Trade sales was the significant factor in the ability of the association to pay staff and premises for the administration of these grants. 

 

In 2009 the total number of days a year for training related to the schooling or improvement of members, workers or community knowledge was a staggering 260 days, rising to 266 in in 2010.

In April 2012 we set up a nursery for our weavers' children, full of jigsaws, educational games, books, colouring books, as well as toys. 

 

The delight on the children's face when they arrived with their parents at the Association HQ to find a room for them filled with toys and games was one of those moments which makes all of the hard work we put into Pachacuti feel so worthwhile!

 

 

Images: Infographic UNRIC  Other photos are of the Pachacuti nursery at our Weavers' Association in Ecuador.

 

After leaving London Fashion Week, we began our road trip which would take us to Milan Fashion Week and then back to Paris Fashion Week.

At Milan Fashion Week, Pachacuti was showing in White Goes Green With C.L.A.S.S which stands for Creativity Lifestyle and Sustainable Synergy. The Italian equivalent of Estethica at London Fashion Week, it was housed within White, one of the main shows in Milan. 

 

The area was a showcase for brands which adhere to CLASS's philosophy of eco-style and glamour.

 

White Goes Green with CLASS  was run by Giusy Bettoni, assisted by Cecilia del Corpo who were both a delight to work with and extremely helpful with regard to every element of the show. CLASS was also exhibiting their eco-library of environmentally-friendly and sustainable fabrics which are being used for Livia Firth's Green Carpet Challenge.

Talking of Livia Firth, I have no idea where that woman finds the incredible energy required for her relentless schedule, but I was delighted that she found time to visit Pachacuti at the show where we discussed some tweaks to the Pachacuti/Livia Firth Designs collaboration for SS13.

In addition to the brands showing, there was also a display of clothing created for the NICE design challenge at the Copenhagen Fashion Summit organised by the Nordic Fashion Association. The design challenge provided an opportunity for 15 major designers and brands such as Marimekko to work with innovative, eco-friendly materials provided by CLASS.  The aim of the project was to help transform eco-fashion from a niche segment into a global industry standard, offering real choices for consumers to discover clothing which combines style with sustainability.

 

The brands showing at White Goes Green with CLASS were Bioneuma, Officina Yoj, Silenzio Stampa, Venuxberg and Sofia Retro Bazar, as well as Pachacuti.

 

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