Our Credentials
Seals of approval
People Tree is an active member of many Fair Trade, social justice and environmental networks, so often find ourselves setting the standards. That's just the kind of people we are! Seriously though, accreditation by these bodies, like IFAT, the Fairtrade Foundation and the Soil Association also offers you're a guarantee that we're doing what we say we're doing when it comes to Fair Trade and the environment. (Not, as the heading suggests, an endorsement from a bunch of sea mammals.)
Fair Trade credentials
Since 1996, People Tree is a registered – and highly involved – member of the International Fair Trade Association (IFAT). We also initiated World Fair Trade Day, endorsed by IFAT and the only global Fair Trade event, celebrated in 70 countries worldwide – north and south.
IFAT is an internationally recognised organisation that aims to improve the livelihoods of disadvantaged producers, by linking and promoting Fair Trade organisations and speaking out for greater justice in World Trade. IFAT members take part in regular reviews to ensure that they meet IFAT standards.
Like all IFAT members, People Tree have the mission of Fair Trade at the heart of their activities and comply with their 10 standards of Fair Trade.
In addition, most of People Tree's organic cotton is also carries the FAIRTRADE Mark. This guarantees small scale cotton farmers in developing countries receive a fair and stable price and an additional premium which gives them the opportunity to develop their communities.
A few of our organic cotton items do not carry this mark as they're made with a high quality cotton fibre, which is not yet grown by an approved producer in India. People Tree is initiating new organic Fairtrade cotton projects in Bangladesh, so that so that in future our handwoven cotton can carry the FAIRTRADE Mark.
Ecological credentials
People Tree has promoted organic cotton farming for over ten years, and all our organic fibre is certified by Control Union (a Dutch based organic certification body).
We've also been working hard to get our organic cotton clothing certified by the Soil Association too. This guarantees that our manufacturing processes also meet Global Organic Textile Standards. So, if you see the mark beside the colour of the garment on this site, you can be assured that every step of the production process – from sowing the cotton seeds to shipping a T-Shirt to your doorstep – has been carefully inspected to ensure organic standards.
Our new colours for organic clothing now meet stringent requirements for organic dyes. Tight schedules for Soil Association certification last season meant we were unable to develop recipes to meet the stringent organic requirements for a few colours. Naturally, we'll keep working on to improve the way we do things.
And this is true for our printed tees. They don't carry the mark either, even though they use low impact dyes. That's because the screen print workshop we use is a small family run business that we didn't want to desert for the sake of certification. We're supporting them so that they can meet the organic criteria soon.
Getting many small scale producers certified is a complicated process, but Fair Trade focuses on marginalised and small-scale groups. We hope that by next year our entire organic cotton collection will carry the Soil Association symbol.
