Fairtrade Christmas shopping ABIGAIL FRYMANN


Ethical luxuries


People are prepared to pay more for items bearing the Fairtrade mark. Not only that, the market in upmarket ethically produced goods is expanding, with high-quality jewellery, cosmetics, clothing and food now available and packaged for Christmas


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hopping analysts call it the “lipstick factor” – the fact that people will splash out on small treats even when they are worried about their finances.


This may account for the fact that companies producing up-market ethical gifts are doing well during the economic downturn. Founder of a new Fairtrade cosmetics com-


pany Sue Acton certainly thinks so, but she believes there is another factor at work: “With all this talk of what caused the recession – greed, the banking system – there’s a growing perception that it’s all gone a bit far, just focus- ing on money.” Acton launched Bubble & Balmlast sum-


mer after working for Barclays Bank in the City for 11 years. Quality, she says, has become more important. “You can no longer get away with having a


product that’s ethical if it’s not really nice, but there’s an appetite and interest in fairness. I think people will pay a premium for Fairtrade if it’s not hideously expensive,” says Acton, whose cosmetics are sold in Waitrose. The City of London-based Fairtrade


Foundation has established criteria for cos- metics products to be awarded the Fairtrade mark, and already Neal’s Yard, Absolute Skincare (on sale in Selfridges) and Boots are selling accredited products. In all, there are some 4,000 Fairtrade-marked products available these days. “There is an increasing range of high-quality


products coming out; we’re pushing our ten- tacles in both directions,” says Barbara Crowther, director of policy and communi- cations at the Fairtrade Foundation – from eight lines of coffee in Fortnum & Mason to four-finger Kit Kats and Sainsbury’s “Basics” bananas. Tim Maton, senior consumer analyst at the


Institute of Grocery Distribution, said that, according to research carried out this year, the number of people buying Fairtrade goods has grown every year through the downturn. The institute found that 52 per cent say the pay and conditions of people in poorer coun- tries were important to them and only one-fifth said having to pay extra would put them off buying a Fairtrade item. Some Harrods, all Hampstead and almost


all Jacksons teas are now Fairtrade. And the Divine chocolate company is bringing out a selection box, as is Plush, a chocolate company founded by two female entrepreneurs, Sarah


Hobbs and Jenny Silverthorne-Wright, who set up their firm after working at Oxfam. Coffee-wise, Rombouts and Taylors of


Harrogate have started accrediting some of their lines, as have Fortnum & Mason. And to accompany a quality coffee, you need a quality spirit. Cue the world’s first Fairtrade vodka, made from quinoa – a cereal-like plant grown by Andean farmers – by the Paris- based Fair Trade Spirits Company under the brand name FAIR, which also markets the world’s first Fairtrade liqueur made from the Himalayan goji berry. FAIR vodka, retailing for around £33 a bottle, has already won top industry awards. For those wanting to buy clothes as pres- ents, the range of Fairtrade-marked garments is expanding and improving. For clothes to be eligible, producers have to be able to prove that the cotton sellers in Mali and the fac- tories in Asia adhere to Fairtrade Foundation stand ards. People Tree’s range of Fairtrade clothes is available from John Lewis. Also boasting the Fairtrade mark is Liv, whose elegantly cut autumnal knits use Fairtrade cotton (leggings £35, cardigan £65, Bow Brook top £110). Gifts for men are harder to find, but one


unisex line is Pants to Poverty, which sells men and women’s organic Fairtrade cotton briefs (around £10) and vests, and boasts an ethical supply chain. The website Life’s Not Fair But My Knickers Are (briefs around £12), M&S, Monsoon, Laura Ashley and the online retailer Asos also sell tops and other items made from Fairtrade cotton. Topshop has begun to stock dresses ranging in price from £29 to £66 from the label Annie Greenabelle, another small company inspired by big ideals. The company supplies six designs every fortnight. Founder Jane Olley uses seam- stresses at a local factory in Leicester, where she was convent-educated and still lives, and sources Fairtrade cotton from India. The material is woven, spun, dyed and printed in a factory run by Franciscan nuns and staffed by poor women, many of whom are deaf or mute. The women are paid a fair wage and receive a lump sum paid after five years of employment, which has led some to set up their own tailoring business. Fairtrade marks are now appearing on bed- ding, too. Oxton Cotton offers white duvet sets (double duvet cover £45) plus towels and napkins. One Village offers duvet covers and


Patchwork bedspread made in Jaipur, India, from recycled saris, available from lovefairtrade.co.uk (£178.50), with cushion covers (£15)


pillowcases in rich Indian designs as well as plainer checks and prints (a double set costs up to £79) and the company’s website explains at length the weaving techniques used on its cooperative in Orissa. Also from India, one at the top of the range at a site called love- fairtrade.co.uk is a £150 turquoise hand-sewn patchwork bedspread made from recycled wedding saris or dresses collected from villages in Gujarat. No mass-produced uniformity there. Neither of these sites uses the Fairtrade mark but both go into detail about the welfare of their Asian producers. But it’s not just women in Asia whose work is being ethically traded in Britain. Fine Cell Worksells hand-sewn beautiful embroidered cushions, bags and so on made by UK pris- oners, mainly men. A bag marked “Swag” costs £35, while £999 buys a patchwork quilt. Inmates receive extensive training and the quality is very high. Fine Cell Work’s director, Mairi Duthie, explains the ethos behind the company: “The psychological benefits to the inmates are extraordinary. A lot of these people have never had a relationship with someone who has encouraged them; they’ve never made anything and been told it’s good; they’ve never received a thank-you letter”. (Customers are invited, but not instructed, to write to thank the person who made the product.) But if you want to buy your best beloved


some ethical jewellery, you may wish to wait until Valentine’s Day next year. That’s when the first Fairtrade-marked gold will go on sale after years of working out the criteria that would improve miners’ lives. However, some silver items are available now from ethical companies such as Traidcraft. The range and ingenuity of Fairtrade luxury


items currently around, and the speed with which other brands such as Green & Black’s chocolate and Ben & Jerry’s ice cream are getting accredited, are astonishing. Just as heartening as the number of large companies sourcing their raw materials more ethically is the number of small ones born of imagin - ation, fun and passion and the openness of the public to them.


13 November 2010 | THE TABLET | 11


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