Fairtrade cotton has been a huge success since it was launched in 2005 and is now the fastest-growing product group among six major categories of goods accredited by the Fairtrade Foundation.

Who's getting involved

Epona is one of the pioneer promotional clothing companies to make garments using Fairtrade cotton. This year, we hope to increase our Fairtrade clothing production by 100% and have purchased 450 tonnes of Fairtrade cotton in advance.

There has been a fantastic reaction to Epona's products in 2007. The most popular items have been the women's brightly coloured fitted tops and the men's standard cut t-shirts. As Fairtarde moves towards the mainstream, there is even more need to stand out from the crowd and produce top quality garments and offer exemplary customer service. Although customers are showing hugh support for Fairtrade, they also want fashionable, stylish and great value clothing.

All Epona's colours are fashon-led and it we be building on the popularity of our current range of hoodies, t-shirts, zip-ups and polo shirts by introducing tops in slate grey, grey marl, military green as well as new brights for spring 08. Fairtrade producers make a committment to sell only their best cotton fibre to their buyers. This enables Epona's to use premium Fairtrade long-staple cotton to produce durable garments aimed at the top end of the promotional industry. Epona has worked with its manufacturer to develop environmentally friendly dyes that can keep a bright, colour fast finish.

Many high street retailers are also introducing more Fairtrade cotton lines. In February Marks & Spencer promised to produce 20 million garments using Fairtrade cotton by the end of next year. Debenhams will also make its first major move into the market next year with the launch of FiveG, a men's clothing range. Topshop is launching its own-label range of Fairtrade cotton items and Sainsbury's is planning to increase the amount of Fairtrade cotton it uses by 50% in 2008 to 630 tonnes as part of a plan to switch all its standard T-shirts in its Tu clothing range to the ethical fibre.

Why is Fairtrade taking off?

2007 saw the Fairtrade market go from strength to strength. It seems this is a genuine change with more manufacturers, customers and both the trade and national press all coming on board.

Press coverage has helped to increase consumer awareness and there is now huge demand for ethically produced garments. Customers can see that their own purchasing decisions can have a genuine difference to the lives of producers in developing countries. The Fairtrade Foundation's campaign for Fairtrade Fortnight 2008 is to ‘Make Fairtrade Your Habit' and is encouraging Fairtrade purchases to become a regular part of the shopping routine, rather than a one off ‘feel good' buy.

Farmers are understandably keen to produce Fairtrade cotton as it has a number of significant benefits for the farmers. Farmes are given a guaranteed fair price calculated to ensure that it covers production and living costs, as opposed to the market price. The market price is artificially low because of the huge subsides that are paid to American and EU farmers, making it very hard for farmers in the developing world to compete. Producers also receive an additional premium of 15% which can be spent on projects that benefit the whole communtiy. This additional finance has improved the lives of more than 30,000 cotton farmers from 16 producer groups in Mali, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Egypt, India and Senegal. Co-operatives are growing at an impressive rate - from groups  with 500 members in 2007 to co-operatives of around 10,000 in 2008. Epona purchased 450 tonnes of cotton for 2008, which is produced by 1,500 farmers in Andhra Pradesh, India. 

I visited Epona's cotton farmers in September 2007 and was able to witness first hand how it improves their lives. It was clear that there is a lot of trust involved and buyers have a responsibility to honour their agreements to the farmers. Fairtrade relies on retailers and brands making long-term commitments regarding the amount of cotton they need to allow producers to plan production efficiently. Each stage of the production process needs to be certifed by FLO (the Fairtrade Labelling Organisation) and the farmers are bound by much stricter environmental care rules than conventional cotton producers. Epona has gone a step further and produces cotton that is in-conversion to organic and is produced without any pesticides or insecticides.

Despite its impressive rate of growth, Fairtrade cotton still makes up less than 1% of the total fibre produced worldwide. With problems of global warming and third world poverty ever increasing there is still a long way to go, but the predicted sales of Fairtrade cotton for 2008 suggest significant changes to the garment manufacture industry may be just around the corner.

Epona will be involved in the public launch of Fairtrade Fortnight on Sunday 24th Feb - for more informaton go to www.fairtrade.org.uk

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