Fair Trade- what is Fair Trade?

The company I have chosen to look at is named Artisan Life, after viewing their stall at the ethical fashion forum, their values and beliefs really engaged me.
Artisan life is a UK based company who set out to commercialise and represent Columbian based craftsman and artisans through selling unique handmade jewellery and accessories through leading distribution companies. Artisan life makes sure the message of where the jewellery originates and the materials used is made clear, they are all sourced on a fair trade basis using natural and sustainable resources.
The main benefits reaped by artisan life are that of fair-trade value and ethics, “fair-trade is a social and economic movement which promotes international standards of ethical production, labour and environmental policies”- www.tedresearch.net
There are now over 350 fair trade organisations working with the world fair trade organisation, many specialising in textiles and jewellery, but also many claim to be fair-traded when in fact only part of a product is, there are many boutiques which carefully evaluate their products and businesses to ensure they meet specific standards, Artisan life is one of them, a culturally influenced brand incorporating traditional techniques in high end design.
There has been a rise of around 50% in worldwide fair-trade products, it is an increasing popularity to consumers and with the involvement of high street traders to help raise awareness, and fair trade is on the increase even more. It’s with constant campaigns and charity funded work that supports workers conditions, pay and working lifestyle worldwide.
Fair-trade simply means a fair return on workers efforts, that they receive what they truly deserve from what they’ve committed. This can be from enforcing fair code of conducts to all workers, with fair pay and treatment in the hierarchy of a company, to monitoring workers and regular reviews to make sure standards do not slip, to collaboration with trade unions and manufacturers from the offset to ensure wages, working hours and working conditions are humane.
Artisan Life strives to create opportunities for Columbian craftsman, to ensure they receive fair wages and form trustworthy relationships to understand their determination involved in the crafting and manufacturing of their unique goods, the crafts provide an annual income for many of the craftsman, Artisan Life provides up to 50% of advanced payments to ensure continued development of communities and improved lifestyle.
Although artisan Life only focuses on one community, the niche market in the UK of genuine fair-trade unique products ensures that the Columbian craftsman will continue to receive the appropriate support and interest to help flourish and expand their skills, the money received from their products is fair and means the people can lead a better lifestyle from their talents.
A company whom I will also look at in the production of jewellery and accessories is Primark, in the past Primark has had a lot of controversy over its ethical values and the treatment of its factory workers.
Originating in the UK and Ireland and the U.K’S second biggest retailer, in recent years Primark has decided to publicise its new Fair trade and ethical trading values, this can prove to be risky to some companies as by highlighting the good that fair-trading brings to communities and workers, it can also highlight the bad in that Primark is not a total fair trade company “Primark is committed to providing the best possible value for our customers, but not at the expense of the people who make our products” www.primark.co.uk
Primark has been penalised particularly for disgusting factory conditions in India, where a worker may be paid as little as £1.13 a day, below the national average, the way the workers are treated is also unfair and can be inhumane, continually breaking the ethical trading initiative.
Primark has specifically bought in experts to help them increase their ethical trading, particularly with factory conditions, with cheap clothes come cheap labour. Primark employs more than 400 suppliers in 16 countries and aims to build relationships with all of them, and they have now published a full code of conduct which must be operated by all associated with Primark, this includes items such as working conditions are safe and hygienic and child labour shall not be used. But Primark is still under scrutiny, jewellery and accessories are still cheaply made, certainly not with fair-trade products but instead mass-produced, with factories still breaking Primark’s code of conducts, how enforced are the rules placed there to ensure fair working policies? They sell from huge, cheap-to run sites, with little advertising and relying on word of mouth for custom, it is a complex issue with Primark as many of their factories are in different third-world countries, where laws and norms are different.
Primark still very much has the “we’re trying but it’s hard to get there” attitude when it comes to fair-trade.