Background

In Europe, fair trade started in the 1960s with handicrafts, but largely switched to fair trade foods in the 1980's, products such as tea, chocolate, bananas and honey. Fair trade clothing has been a very hard sell. Larger companies rely on forcing trends so that everyone has to supply the latest design four times a year, thus excluding small-scale producers. To compete, People Tree works closely with producers at grassroots level, giving design, technical assistance and ongoing quality support. Particularly in the garment industry, the need for “fairer trade” is large. Many conventional retail buyers squeeze the manufacturers' prices to levels that leave wages below the poverty level. Smaller producer groups often do not have the capital needed to produce clothes and face local interest rates of 30% or more. Fair trade organizations commit to paying advances and a fair price in the local context.

Ecology also plays an important part in the textile industry. Large amounts of pesticides are used to farm cotton. According to the World Health Organization, pesticides cause around three million chronic health problems around the world each year, often exacerbating poverty. Hazardous dyes pose health risks to producers and consumers alike. In addition, cotton producers are often put out of business by unfair subsidies. The USA, for example, provides subsidies to its cotton farmers that are three times higher than the entire development aid budget to Africa. People Tree therefore promotes organic cotton from developing countries.