ER ATET With Jeremy Piercy


H I


CALILING


Should we care where our products come from?


and soapstone. Many women in the slum learned, along with their children in the same class, to read and write, and have subsequently found jobs, some at Tara Projects, where they pack and make simple jewellery. T e slum, known as Indira Camp, has now been bulldozed. Before the Commonwealth Games began on October 3, tens of thousands of poor people were evicted from their homes as the authorities “beautifi ed” the city – a process they call “streetscaping”. T e aim is to widen the streets and plant trees; if any houses, huts or anything which might convey poverty to athletes and tourists is in the way – it is demolished. As Indira Camp is an illegal settlement, no compensation or alternative accommodation will be off ered. “All the authorities care about,”


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resident Urmila Patakh, who has lived there since 1984, told me, “is that poor people are out of sight. We have built our houses ourselves, brick by brick, some of them 25 years ago. Now we are to be evicted. We are hard-working people but we and our children are just being thrown on the streets. Where will we go?” What is the point of this tale? Apart


from the involvement of Tara’s workers in producing jewellery (which goes to Shared Earth, Monsoon and other retailers), what does it have to do with the gift trade? Surely “streetscaping” is more connected with sport? I believe we should know where our


14 gifts today


t was only six months ago (in the March issue of this column) that I described a New Delhi slum where a school had been set up by Tara Projects, a fair trade exporter which specialises in jewellery


Just in the gift trade, hundreds of millions of children are employed worldwide, when they should be at school and enjoying their


childhood


products come from; the people who make them are as important as the people who buy them. Poor wages and working conditions, disregard for safety, exploitation of children – the aim is always to provide us with lower prices, and the result can be summed up in one word: poverty. T e issue of Indira Camp is a prime example of how we try to ignore poverty, and pretend it doesn’t exist. In Delhi, “streetscaping” seemed more important than fi nishing the stadiums in time for the Games. In the gift trade, somehow we think poverty has nothing to do with us; it’s not our concern; there’s nothing we can do.


But just in the gift trade, hundreds of millions of children are employed worldwide, when they should be at school and enjoying their childhood. I will repeat again and again that we have a responsibility to source our goods from suppliers who can genuinely guarantee that children are not exploited in the supply chain! It’s easy to pass responsibility on to our suppliers, who in turn often pass responsibility on to their suppliers abroad. T ese may say quite honestly that they don’t employ children, but many will sub- contract to small family businesses, which do. T e contractor may demand such low prices that if they only use adults, they won’t be able to meet them. Ultimately, the insistence on the


lowest possible price comes from the customer. But giving the customer a good deal doesn’t mean you have to screw the producer. Take off the cost of materials, and on an item with a retail price of £10, he or she is unlikely to earn more than 50p. An extra 10p will make all the diff erence;


Jeremy Piercy


While large sporting events like the Commonwealth Games can help regenerate cities and attract tourism, it is not always good news for the inhabitants of deprived areas, writes Jeremy Piercy.


that’s only 1% of the retail price. Surely we can aff ord to lose that somewhere else on the supply chain! I have built up a gift business from a single shop with a turnover of £50,000 to ten shops with a turnover of £3m, paying fair prices. So it’s possible! It’s easy to turn a blind eye to these


issues, but some suppliers are more ethical in their sourcing than others, and we should buy from them. Many pay decent prices to their suppliers abroad and manage to provide decent prices to their customers too. Most ethical are those which are recognised as fair trade businesses. As more and more fair trade products become available, and their quality improves, there is less and less reason to avoid the issue of our responsibility for sourcing ethically. We have a choice, and if there’s a fair


alternative, which helps to avoid suff ering in the supply chain abroad – indeed, to improve people’s lives – we should take it. As Christmas approaches, we should actively seek out new fair trade products and suppliers. You may think I’m on a moral crusade. I am, and I don’t apologise for it!


Jeremy Piercy is the founder and managing director of Shared Earth, the fair trade retailer and wholesaler. He recently published his fi rst book, Coffi ns, Cats and Fair Trade Sex Toys. jp@sharedearth.co.uk


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