Company Profile

Welcome to Pachacuti's Company Profile Page, here you can learn more about Pachacuti and our Fair Trade ethical business policy.

About Pachacuti

At Pachacuti we are committed to creating a successful, contemporary fashion and accessories business built on the foundation of fair trade.    Pachacuti means world upside-down in the Quechua language and describes our endeavour to redress the inequalities in the global fashion industry through demonstrating that it is possible to run a successful clothing business which benefits the producers and is environmentally sustainable.   

A pioneer in fair trade fashion, Carry Somers established Pachacuti in 1992 after completing an MA in Native American Studies.   On a research trip to Ecuador she was shocked by the inequitable trading patterns where intermediaries made all the profits and seeing the tangible difference this made to the producers' livelihoods encouraged her to set up a business dedicated to improving the lives of communities in the Andean region.

Pachacuti is now a rapidly growing business based in the market town of Ashbourne, Derbyshire.   The wholesale side of the business began in 1992 with an order from The Conran Shop for rollable panama hats. We still supply The Conran Shop, along with hundreds of other shops and mail order catalogues in the UK, Europe and Japan.

Pachacuti shows that in a world of mass-produced clothing, people can wear individual, stylish garments that have been created by hand using traditional skills, with respect for the environment and ensuring that the producers receive a living wage.   Obviously fair trade means ensuring that our producers receive excellent remuneration for their work, sometimes as much as double the price they would get from selling to an intermediary.   However, Pachacuti goes much further than this by striving to improve their working conditions; empowering women through working principally with organisations of female producers; ensuring that products are sustainable through the reduction of chemicals and the use of rainforest-friendly tagua nut buttons and supporting community development in rural areas.

Pachacuti's Fair Trade Panama Hats

Pachacuti supports the only women's panama hat association in Ecuador, providing the principal income for hundreds of weavers.

The UK's only fair trade hat specialist, Pachacuti's service and quality of hat gain constant praise from customers around the world. Warner Bros. scoured London to find hats which were appropriate for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and found exactly the styles they required on our website.

The panama hat industry has traditionally been dominated by powerful middlemen at the expense of the weavers. Not only do our weavers receive good remuneration for their skills, but we also provide a monthly wage for the director of the association so that she no longer has to tend to cows at 4am to earn extra income and monthly pensions for elderly weavers, which is unknown in the panama hat industry!   Pachacuti provides additional financial assistance through a medical and funeral fund and for capital expenditure.   The extra income generated by the sale of Pachacuti's panama hats has been used to buy land for a grocery store, which will be built in order to improve levels of nutrition within the community.

For details of our other products or our fair trade policy please click on the buttons below.

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