The fair trade movement, a load of pants?
by Mort on Aug.10, 2009, under Environment, News
I saw this piece on the Guardian’s Ethical Living Blog, and thought it worthy of Mort’s Musings treatment.
It highlights a small company with lofty goals; They aim to change, through example, the way that the free market operates, and all via the medium of fairtrade pants! Pants to Poverty are attempting to carve out a niche for themselves by selling quality underwear sourced from fair trade cotton grown without the use of pesticides, and, in the process, demonstrate that it is possible to run an ethical, & profitable, business. It may seem like an ambitious, maybe even eccentric, plan, and with a price tag of £8 on their undies they’re clearly going to have trouble winning over the Primark, £1 a pair, brigade, but, then again, anyone shopping at Primark probably doesn’t have ethical sourcing of their clothes as a top priority.
Pants to Poverty's ethical undies, as modelled by the invisble man
They are clearly going for a more discerning market, but, as such, they’ll be competing with established names of the underwear world, such as M&S who, to some, are almost synonomous with lingerie. Competing against big, well known, brands is never a simple task for a small start-ups, but in PtP’s favour they do have the one thing which any business in this position needs in order to give itself a chance: a niche, a specialism, something the big names aren’t offering. By choosing to target the “ethical market” they are setting themselves apart from other underwear retailers.
Personally I wish them all the best, I doubt they’ll catalyse the change in global business practice they’re aiming for, but it’s great to see people of principle put their money where their mouths are and give it a go.
Of course cynic that I am I do wonder, if it turns out that there is a market for ethical undies, whether one of the big names won’t just jump on the bandwagon and use their economies of scale to out-compete the small guy. I hope not, but sadly that seems to be the way that business works.
2 Comments for this entry
Leave a Reply
-
Welcome
This is my blog (duh!) Mostly I rant about stuff that annoys me, but I *try* to do it in an informed, intelligent way. Ok, I only said I *try*- Enjoy, or don't, I don't much care, but hopefully you might find some of it thought provoking. *shrug*
Political News from The BBC- SNP outlines government programmeThe Scottish government unveils plans to scrap the "double jeopardy" rule under its new programme for government. […]
- Extradition laws to be reviewedThe government orders an independent review of the UK's extradition laws, which will examine if the US-UK treaty is "unbalanced". […]
- Kelly inquest calls under reviewMinisters meet to discuss whether to release information about the death of government scientist Dr David Kelly and whether to hold a formal inquest. […]
- Paterson warning on parades bodyThe Secretary of State warns that the government will reappoint the Parades Commission if there is no local agreement on parading. […]
- MPs to debate phone hacking claimParliament is to debate allegations that MPs had their mobile phones hacked into by News of the World journalists. […]
- SNP outlines government programme
September 13th, 2009 on 9:53 pm
Thank you much for this imformative post.
December 17th, 2009 on 6:46 pm
The website was precisely fantastic! Lots of nice information and enthusiasm, both of which we all need!