Fairtrade Fortnight a roaring success

Though Fairtrade Fortnight is not officially over yet, it has been named as the most successful in promoting fair trade goods in all of Fairtrade Foundation's history. This year, over 20 villages, towns and cities have been certified Fairtrade and schools and committees up and down the country have been hosting Fairtrade fashion shows, proving support and awareness is steadily rising. Even Hadrian's Wall is officially certified Fairtrade as of this Fortnight.

The Fairtrade Foundation have also reported that "public loyalty" towards buying products at a fairer price for farmers, artisans, and producers in developing countries has increased, claiming even the tough economic climate has not hindered the "double-digit growth" of Fairtrade sales to £800m in 2009. With an extra £800m going straight into the pockets of farmers, factory workers, seamstresses and everyone involved in the Fairtrade process in a developing country, what's not to love about Fairtrade?

For anyone who's still unsure as to how to make the first step towards switching to a fairer product, start with the smaller pleasures in life - such as tea.  Whilst there are dozens of brands to choose from, you only have to look a little closer when doing your weekly shop to see ethically traded tea is easily bought for almost the same price as non-ethical brands from your local supermarket.  Brands such as Yorkshire Tea, Clipper (who are incidentally the very first Fairtrade certified tea in the UK), and Traidcraft to name just a few are doing their bit for their tea pickers, which means a fair wage, no pesticides, and investing money back into their local community.  100 percent fair for everyone involved.

Fairtrade fashion's image long ago lost its itchy hemp and stuffy anorak image, as it emerges stronger than ever this year thanks to a successful seventh season of London Fashion Week's ethical fashion exhibition Esthethica (sponsored by Monsoon and co-curated by Orsola de Castro and Filippo Ricci), which ensured dozens of high fashion ethical labels such as Angel Jackson and Noir showcased their goods.  Ethical fashion publicity has also been successfully drummed up this Fairtrade Fortnight by a certain Harry Potter actress. While I don't believe for a second Miss Watson single-handedly "designed" the pieces for the "Love From Emma" line at People Tree, anyone who is willing to raise awareness of the fact that workers in the clothing industry from developing countries are typically paid 5p an hour and work 80 hours a week, deserves a mention this Fortnight - especially since she is one of the first in her generation to lend her name to such a cause.

If People Tree's designs don't work for you, or what you do want is out of stock (as is quite often my case) why not try Bibico, Aura Que, Lowie, or Tara Starlet for some ethically made, lovingly-crafted, vintage, wooly and guilt-free shopping delivered to your door?  You know you want to, especially since their sales stuff is smoking hot and affordably so!

Just remember, Fairtrade Fortnight is about giving as well as receiving, so start receiving now =).

Blood, Sweat and Takeaways... but seriously where do you think your cheap meat came from?

Ethical clothing. Fair trade. British meat. All words we've heard together and often put in sentences to make us feel guilty about our consumption, but shouldn't we already care? The best part of this is, that the more awareness is raised, the more people are starting to take note. All the information a consumer needs is at their fingertips, quite literally, nowadays with the internet at our dispense.

So why does it take a BBC TV series such as 'Blood, Sweat and Takeways' to raise the plight for Thai rice farmers, sex workers and factory workers? Is there really not enough being done for people to see that absolutely everything we do in the UK has a knock-on effect on someone, somewhere in a developing country?

Take our t-shirts for example. Did you know 22% of ALL pesticides are sprayed on cotton? Or that 20,000 farmers die each year in developing countries from agricultural pesticides?

Or what about your Primark jewellery made by thousands of people every day? Do you know that the person who made your bead necklace eats far less than the recommended 2,000 calories a day? Or that despite the extremely physical 14 hour work days in a sweatshop they get only 3 days off a month?


Yet Fair trade goods, ethically sourced products, and ways to help support and take people out of sweatshop labour is an easier option than it may seem.

People Tree (peopletree.co.uk) are an ethical and organic label who pay all their artisans a fair wage to support their families for making their clothing and handicrafts. They often have online sales too, and their clothing is affordable at the best of times.

Monkee Genes (monkeegenes.co.uk) are an ethical and organic jeans and cords company who produce some of their products in Britain. Their jeans come in fashionable colours and 'supa-skinny' fit. Perfect.

Kenyan handicraft group Bega kwa Bega which means 'shoulder to shoulder' take hundreds of women from the slums of Nairobi each year to teach them trades such as tie dye; scarf making; sewing; and knitting. They ship to as many businesses as possible in the UK.

I know my friends always say to me, 'When you only have a certain amount, how can you stop shopping at cheap places?' Here's how.

Once you start looking, there is a world of opportunity available to you at a fair price, and ensures the maker of your product was entitled an even fairer wage. I used to get paid £6 an hour in a part-time job. Some labourers get paid £6 a week. Really, who's the one losing out?

So here's a friendly tip, just so you know I'm not getting on your case for no reason; ASOS.com often have Fairtrade certified labels on their website, and if you Google 'Fair Trade clothing', 1,620,000 hits come up. American Apparel are ethically sourced and Fairtrade certified. Arcadia Group which includes Dorothy Perkins, Miss Selfridge and the notorious Topshop have all signed up to the Sustainable Clothing Action Plan to reduce clothing waste, pay fair wages, and stop using pesticides eventually. The Fairtrade Foundation have pledged to increase the volume of Fairtrade cotton products to at least 10 per cent of cotton clothing in the UK by 2012.

Now is the time to stop making excuses, and make a difference. Why? Because it costs you a lot less than it costs them.