Wednesday 22nd September 2004
It's good to get into Fairtrade, making important choices about coffee and tea. In Milton Keynes we now have a Fairtrade shop SUST, it sits between Waitrose and Sainsbury's in the food centre. Here you can purchase a wide selection of fairly traded products, though there is an increased appeal to shop for fairly traded food in your local supermarket.
But it must not stop there! It is time to take a careful and critical look at the clothes you wear.
It was fantastic to read in an open letter to The Independent, 16 celebrities including Jude Law, Chris Martin, Bono and Minnie Driver, welcoming Britain's commitment to fighting poverty. It was even more remarkable that Chris Martin, Jude Law and Ewan McGregor say that they avoid sweatshops in favour of supporting fairtrade fashion. The time has come for us to take a closer look at what we clothe our bodies with, for many of us there is a real gap in our thinking when it comes to the clothes and trainers we wear. Many of them are made unfairly in the most appalling working conditions by children from the age of five.
Begin to look out for the fairtrade labels, like People Tree: they don't go in for Gap-sized budgets, and they don't spend an lot on glitzy promotion because they prefer to spend it helping their Bangladeshi suppliers recover after the floods. People Tree threads are sourced from 70 fairtrade groups in 20 developing countries. The label has managed to attract an impressive list of fans, including: Sienna Miller, Minnie Driver and Chris Martin.
In the past Nick Pecarelli wrote speeches for Gordon Brown. Now he runs Hug a fair trade label with a line in cutesy, cheeky T-shirts. Saying no to designer labels is becoming… cute!