Pachacuti - Sustainable Fair Trade Management System

We had heard for several years that the WFTO would be bringing out a certification for handmade products. This represents vitally important progress within the fashion industry where added value is not determined predominantly by raw materials but by all the processes involved in the creation of the finished article. 

Currently, a cotton top with a Fair Trade mark only has to use fairtrade cotton, but the cutting, sewing, embellishment of the garment does not have to adhere to fair standards.  We believed that the Panama hat would be the ideal first product to bear new certification as it once epitomised colonial rule and a Fair Trade panama would symbolise the power returning to the hands of the producers.   We were selected for the pilot and became the first company to receive the new certification label in December 2009.

We developed analytical tools and methodology to obtain feedback in simple, visual form as many producers are illiterate.  These tools improve our understanding of the entire supply chain and, together with our producers, we analyse where improvements need to be made and create an annual action plan. Our assessment also extends upwards through the supply chain, covering Pachacuti's UK office, shipping, packaging, staff/management relationships, green utilities, energy use and recycling.

The procedures we have put in place have provided a structured framework for assessing our quantifiable impact on poverty alleviation and on the development of our producers and their wider communities. 

Our supply chain, from raw materials, through producers to packaging and transport in the UK, has been verified by EU auditors who verified the supply chain in the UK and South America and certified that all practices and processes demonstrate social, economic and environmental responsibility.  Pachacuti was audited concurrently against ISO 9001, 14001 and the EU Eco Management and Audit Scheme.  As a result of our pilot work, we have been chosen to work on a new EU Geo-FairTrade traceability project.