Pachacuti - Panama Hats and Fair Trade Clothing

Pachacuti has just been awarded the Best Performance in Sustainable Luxury in Latin America in the Fashion & Accessories category by Lujo Sostentable.

But is Sustainable Luxury an oxymoron with regard to fashion?  Doesn't the term luxury fashion carries connotations of all of the excesses of the fashion industry?

Speaking at the International Herald Tribune’s conference in 2009, PPR chairman Francois-Henri Pinault remarked, “today, more than ever, people want a return to genuine values, such as timelessness, sincerity and exemplary standards. These are all qualities which are inherent in sustainable luxury.”

Luxury fashion begins to look more inherently sustainable when compared to the disposability of fast fashion at the other end of the price scale where shops are filled with rapidly-changing clothing which the consumer can afford to wear only a few times before moving onto the next new style.  Luxury fashion, on the other hand, frequently exhibits a more timeless appeal and will undoubtedly remain in the purchasers wardrobe for longer than its fast fashion equivalent.

A report for the WWF by Jem Bendell and Anthony Kleanthous entitled Deeper Luxury: quality and style when the world matters examined the social and environmental performance of the luxury goods sector.

They identified consumers within this sector as those who had both the means and the motivation to make purchases which respected both people and planet.  The report called upon the luxury industry to "bring to life a new definition of luxury, with deeper values expressed through social and environmental excellence. Their performance and progress on environmental, social and governance issues should be comprehensively measured and reported."

At Pachacuti, we believe that authentic luxury incorporates both social and environmental responsibility without compromising on style.  Pachacuti is unfortunately still something of a rarity: a company which adheres to the highest Fair Trade and environmental standards and yet is sold in some of the most luxurious stores around the world.

Becoming the 1st company in the world to be Fair Trade Certified by the WFTO demonstrates out commitment to both quality and ethical principles. As the Deeper Luxury Report recommends, our performance and progress is measured through a series of social and environmental indicators and reported in our annual Fair Trade & Sustainability Report.

Pachacuti is recognised as a pioneer in ethical fashion, practising Fair Trade since 1992. As the world changes around us, we will continue to push the boundaries of what is possible within the fashion supply chain, providing a role model to challenge compromise and mediocrity.  Our classic style ensures that our designs will not end up in the recycling bin for many years.

We are delighted with this award and will continue to lead the way in creating true luxury products which display integrity, traceability and sustainability in addition to our unswerving commitment to Fair Trade principles.

Interesting and comprehensive feature on eco fashion by Daisy Dumas in National Geographic Green, Summer 2010, examining which materials really are better for the environment.  The article covers natural fibres, natural man-made fibres and synthetic man-made fibres.

The feature includes interviews with myself and Orlsola da Castro, co-founder of From Somewhere and curator of Estethica, the ethical section of London Fashion Week http://www.fromsomewhere.co.uk/ and Dr Kate Fletcher, author of a book which I can highly recommend on Sustainable Fashion and Textiles http://www.katefletcher.com/

You can read the whole article online here: http://www.greennatgeo.co.uk/

Pages 32 to 39

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.

I had a really fascinating trip down to the coast of Ecuador this week to meet the community who supply the Carludovia Palmata fibre (also known as paja toquilla) for our Panama Hats.

Mark (our Marketing Manager & my husband) and Sara (our Quality Manager) drove to a small community of 3000 people about 3 hours south of Manta and then it was an hour off road up into the mountains to reach the plantations of the paja. The community has been working hard to protect their area of land and to increase sustainability and biodiversity in the area. They have protected an area of 5600 hectares and are now seeing a lot more birds and animals in the area such as toucans, armadillos and monkeys. The plants also help to improve the air quality and the producers were keen to emphasise that the work they are doing is providing oxygen for the world. They are hoping to make the area a Patrimonio Cultural in the future.

A new paja toquilla palm can't be harvested for 3 years as it needs to produce runners and baby plants before it can be harvested. After this period, the paja can be harvested every 30 days as it is a very fast growing plant and takes just a month to reach full height (around 12 feet) again. The paja is grown in 100% organic conditions and so we should look into the possibility of organic certification for the fibre in the future.

During our walk through the forest, we saw this huge tarantula and so we definitely stepped a lot more carefully after that!

It was so encouraging to meet the producers of paja for Pachacuti's Panama Hats and to be able to document the sustainability of the production process. Pachacuti has been certified by the WFTO against the Sustainable Fair Trade Management System and we really can say that Pachacuti's Panama Hats are not only sustainable but are actually bringing about positive environmental impact within the community.