Fair Trade
Introduction
Whilst we do not subscribe to any fair trade organisation, around 85% of our products are sourced from small producers - many of whom work on their own or employ two or three other artisans who might share profits between them. We buy nothing from large factories and even our ceramics are produced in small runs by small producers. Our aim is to supply goods provided by artisans that are given regular and sustainable trade.
Business Ethics is a tricky subject but not one we choose to ignore. A lot of people don’t believe that ethics and business mix but we are happy that most of our customers would disagree and we try hard to ensure our suppliers are like minded.
It is usually clear if a supplier is likely to be using child labour as cheap labour, so we steer well clear. Of course these days no exporting company from India or the far east is likely to admit it, so a degree of common sense and a nose for such things is important.
Exported products usually command a higher price than the local market so there really is no commercial pressure on manufacturers to cut costs to such a degree at the risk of losing a lucrative export order.
The deliberate use of child labour is unnecessary and an act of pure greed. However, the reality is that culturally, in small family businesses, children are an essential part of the business. In India for example, a lot of components of craft-work are produced by out-workers in the villages.
A village will hand down particular craft skills from generation to generation and rely on this for extra income. Most villages still don’t have electricity or running water, but most children will attend a morning school. In the afternoons, these children will help in what is essentially the family business. The truth is that the villages of India are a massive collective cottage industry - superbly organised with agents representing villages or groups and ferrying materials in and finished goods back. Each area of the country has it’s own special skills handed down the generations.
Fair trade is an organised social movement and market-based approach to alleviating global poverty and promoting sustainability. The movement advocates the payment of a fair price as well as social and environmental standards in areas related to the production of a wide variety of goods. It focuses in particular on exports from developing countries to developed countries, most notably handicrafts, coffee, cocoa, sugar, tea, bananas, honey, cotton, wine, fresh fruit, and so on.