03
IMPACT

WHAT DOES FAIRTRADE® MEAN?

EVERY TIME WE USE A FAIRTRADE® CERTIFIED ORGANIC PRODUCT, WE ARE GENERATING A SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL COMMITMENT.

We’ve all had Fairtrade® chocolate or Fairtrade® coffee, but what does Fairtrade® cotton actually mean?

90% of the world’s cotton farmers live in developing countries, where unsafe and unfair labor conditions are widespread. Pressure from fast-fashion players and heavy subsidies keep the global cost of cotton artificially low. This puts pressure on small-scale farmers.

Our objective is to enable farmers to have more control over their lives and decide how to invest in their future. Concretely, Fairtrade® empowers farmers to protect their health and their natural environment as an integral part of their own resilience.

We could close our eyes and reassure ourselves by producing everything locally, in the Basque Country, with untraceable imported cotton. But we stand with our inclusive approach of producing in different countries for their respective strengths and needs.

ONLY 1% OF THE COTTON USED IN THE FASHION INDUSTRY HAPPENS TO BE ORGANIC, WE ARE GLAD TO BE PART OF THAT PERCENTAGE.

When we were invited to join the Chetna cooperative in 2016 we felt it was a unique opportunity to have a tangible positive contribution. Chetna is a small producer organization and independent cooperative in the Telengana and Odisha states of India.

They work with farmers to stop or reduce the usage of agrochemicals and to recover traditional composting and pest control techniques. Their cotton fields are rain-fed, reducing the water footprint, while genetically modified cotton seeds are banned.

FAIRTRADE® GIVES FARMERS THE CONFIDENCE AND SUPPORT TO TRANSITION TO ORGANIC FARMING.

It takes around three years for farmers to get organic certification. During this time, farmers use organic practices to rebalance the soil and ecosystem.

HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT ABOUT THE TRANSFORMATIVE POWER WE HAVE AS CONSUMERS?

How we decide to spend our money has tremendous impacts locally but also globally, in areas where needs are far greater than in our own countries.

AT THE END OF THE DAY, THIS IS A STORY ABOUT EMPOWERMENT. AS A FAIRTRADE® FARMER PUTS IT: “WE WERE TAUGHT TO SERVE, TO BE WORKERS. NOW WITH FAIRTRADE®, WE ARE ENTREPRENEURS.”

This connects perfectly with our broader brand mission: to inspire and empower independent women to become agents of change to build a desirable future.

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