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sustaInaBlE FashIon : a handBooK For Educators
The Fairtrade Mark for cotton was launched in 2005 in
the UK and is the only independent certification for cotton
farmers in the developing world. The need for a Fairtrade
label for cotton production is clear: Cotton prices have
been in long-term decline, falling to $0.92/kg in season
2001/02, the lowest level in 30 years. Subsidies to U.S.
cotton farmers have led to unfair competition for African
and Asian producers. Cotton uses 10% of the world’s
pesticides and, of this, 25% of the world’s insecticides. Many
cotton farmers are struggling to survive. The Fairtrade
Mark for cotton is lifting the lid on these injustices at the
start of the supply chain. It provides disadvantaged farmers
with a better deal and opportunity to trade their way out
of poverty and provide for their families and communities.
As well as numerous smaller fair trade companies, many
high street companies have so far stocked lines made
with Fairtrade cotton. The Fairtrade Mark applies to the
cotton used in a growing number of product lines in the
high street retailers. As factories manufacturing clothes in
general for many of the high street brands and retailers
have been implicated in serious workers’ rights abuses
in recent years, this is not without controversy. Martin
Hearson from Labour Behind the Label explains that these
companies need “to convince us that their commitment
to workers’ rights is real and that Fairtrade cotton is not
just a fig leaf to cover the embarrassment of exploitation
in their supply chains. We welcome these commitments to
Fairtrade cotton and hope they will be accompanied by
improvements in working conditions throughout the rest of
these companies’ supply chains”.
The Mark is an independent product certification label
applicable only to cotton production, and not to the other
stages of textile and garment manufacture. There is full
transparency of supply chains and traceability of the cotton
for a product to be able to carry the Fairtrade mark, along
with the requirement for documentary evidence of efforts
to ensure worker rights within the rest of the supply
chain to be submitted for approval. This however is not a
guarantee of working conditions within the supply chain.
Work to investigate standards for the rest of the supply
chain are underway, with the hope that the benefits of the
Fairtrade system can be extended to more workers in the
supply chain in the future.references and further information:
Fairtrade Foundation (2005) Redressing a Global Imbalance:
The Case for Fairtrade Certified Cotton http://www.fairtrade.org.
uk/includes/documents/cm_docs/2008/t/the_case_for_
fairtrade_certified_cotton.pdfFashioning an Ethical Industry (2007) Factsheet
14: Alternative, ethical and fair trade clothes http://
fashioninganethicalindustry.org/resources/factsheets/
completelist/factsheet14/Fairtrade labelled cotton
(^1) Fairtrade Foundation, 2005