Thank you to all those of you that were involved in making the Fair Trade Fashion Show a huge success.  I especially want to thank the key helpers, Jo Pellatt for all the refreshment side of the operation, Melanie Grigorian for organising stewards and money handling, Rosemary MacMullen for choreography, Sam Barnes for Music and Peter Crocker for technical stuff!  But there were 70 of you either modeling, or setting up, or stewarding, or baking, or serving....involved in one way or an other to put the show on!  And lots more of you came and shopped!  Thank you so much – not only for helping me to create a fun evening, but through that, for supporting Fair Trade.

When we returned stock to the Fair Trade Shop in Southampton we were also able to give them £1460 from sales.  We also sold £159 worth of items for Utani-UK, about £300 for People Tree, and £170 of jewelery for Traidcraft.  Our total takings for Fair Trade on the night were around £2000.  Around 125 people paid to come to the show.  Utani-UK and The Fair Trade Shop gave us back %10 of sales for covering costs or donating. Although the accounts are still not quite finalised it is looking as though there will be some profit from the event.  This will be used to fund other fair trade resources and events for our church work. 

This is all FANTASTIC, but I hope the best result will be that people begin to make Fair Trade their habit – even when it comes to clothes.

Over the next few editions of YOURS look out for extracts from what was said on the night to remind yourselves of some of the companies (including People Tree, Traidcraft, Namaste, and No Sweat) you can buy fairly traded clothes from and the great work they do... not by making a profit, but through the principles on which their businesses and vision are based and the consequent benefits to millions of poor people.

Here we look at:

Why Buy Fair Trade?

Why put on a fair trade fashion show and why should we bother with fair trade fashion?

This year is a celebration of 200 years since the abolition of slavery.  I want to be able to celebrate the abolition of unjust, exploitative trade…in my lifetime. 

Half the worlds population live on less than $2 a day – that's over 3 billion people!  Many of them make the clothes we wear.  Every time we buy products that are not fairly traded we are saying that “it is OK that someone else is suffering so that I can have this.”  It is hard to hear, but only hard because if we listen, we are faced with a challenge...the challenge of changing our purchasing habits.

By each choice and decision we make, even when it comes to buying our clothes, we are deciding if we want to be part of the promise of hope and change that so many people in the world cling to.

Tonight we have the opportunity to ‘choose fair trade’ in an area of our lives that we may not have had the opportunity to do so in before.

Fair trade is not a luxury or another brand, which is here for a time and will go. Fair trade is good and growing and if we make it our habit… it will grow even faster!

Online Shopping for fairtrade clothes and accessories

Adili: designer clothing that’s also fairtrade and organic

http://www.adili.com/

Gossypium: casual clothes, underwear and bedlinen from organic and fairtrade cotton

http://www.gossypium.co.uk/#home

la Redoute: fairtrade cotton t-shirts, fashion items and sheets

http://www.laredoute.co.uk then enter fairtrade into search box

MARKS AND SPENCER – yes – it’s true! – t-shirts, jeans, and SCHOOL UNIFORM made from fairtrade cotton, available through the website if not the shops:

http://www.marksandspencer.com then enter fairtrade into search box

Natural Collection: lots of fairtrade clothes, shoes, and household things

http://www.naturalcollection.com/

NO Sweat trainers: classic `tennis’ and `basketball’ styles made by fairly paid workers!

http://www.ethicalsuperstore.com/ has the whole range of trainers, and other stuff

People Tree: clothes from trendy to classic, all fairtrade and mostly organic

http://www.peopletree.co.uk/

Traidcraft: the mother of all fairtrade companies, with an increasing range of clothes and some really stylish bags

http://www.traidcraftshop.co.uk/

Worn Again: funky trainers, bags and belts made from recycled materials

http://www.wornagain.co.uk/

Information

Anti- apathy: lots of information and ideas about eco-friendly and ethical clothes

http://www.antiapathy.org/?q=node/15

Fashioning an Ethical Industry: campaigning to improve conditions in the garment industry worldwide

http://fashioninganethicalindustry.org/static/sewingmachine.html