Fairtrade booms

It's Fairtrade fortnight and a new battle ground is opening in the interminable war between high street retailers and grocers. Having spent millions convincing the British public that they would willingly sell their grandmothers if it meant that a tin of beans was a penny cheaper, retailers (especially those in grocery) are shining their halos with new shinier-than-thou halo polish.

Halo one has got to be Marks and Spencers' mysterious "Plan A" which aims to make packaging lighter and compostable, and includes the phasing out of Azo's and an increase in the use of Fairtrade cotton. Oh, and they have launched an ethical investment fund. None of this is bad, it's just that it doesnâ??t really add up to much more than a halo polish.

No what would be really radical would be a share buyback and transfer to partnership status (see John Lewis); thus placing ownership in employee hands within a free trade context. Secondly, Fairtrade is all well and good but what about organic? And I don't just mean organic cotton I mean sustainable production. Finally packaging, yes, M&S please do reduce your packing and make it compostable, but please stop giving out free plastic carriers! AZO's have been banned in Germany and Holland for years so why are they still in such widespread use?

Rather brilliantly, Sainsbury's is not about to be out done. The giant retailers "Tu" fashion range launched only last year and currently 11th biggest by turnover in the UK is to have a Fairtrade range added with products made from cotton sourced in Mali. Now this is excellent news, but couldn't they have done that to begin with? Mali has a GDP of 5.847 billion US dollars (2006 estimate). Meanwhile, sales for the 28 weeks to October 2006 for Sainsburys were £9.55bn. Hang on a minute I hear you gasp? How much? £9.55bn or 17.477bn US dollars. Or to put it another way, if Sainburys was a small country it would be three times the size of Mali. Mali has a population of 12.5 million (2006 estimate), Sainburys employs "around 153,000 colleagues." Sainburys has seen its sales from non-food items (mostly cloths) grow exponentially in 2006. Surely the entire Tu range should have been Fairtrade from the beginning.

Now, before anyone starts flaming me I recognise that the above is an over simplification, and all I want to do is to stress two things: Fair trade should be about global sustainability, and companies, however shiny their halos may appear, could do a great deal more. If you are going to do something, do it properly. And to those of you who argue that cotton is unsustainable even if it is Fairtrade, or Organic I would agree, but only because of our over dependence on cheap, disposable clothing. We started Terramar Organics precisely because the high street was only selling disposable/unsustainable clothing.

Finally in this weeks blatant plug for a product masquerading as a news story may I guide you to the New Consumer with the following for a three pound t-shirt dressed up as an item on washing advisories from George at Asda: http://www.newconsumer.com/news/item/asdas_george_says_be_green_wash_at_30/

Have a great week, Tom

notes:
http://www.sainsburys.co.uk/shoppingandservices/FAQs/sainsburys_faqs/aboutourcompany.htm#14
http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,1948125,00.html
http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,1920018,00.html
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2828.htm
exchange rate at a 2006 average of 1.83 for the first 38 weeks of 2006

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