"Travelling to India was a real eye opener," says Antony. "As we sell an ethically produced product, most of our customers want to know what is unique about Epona's clothing and what impact we are having on producers' lives. It was great to see first hand how Fairtrade and organic farming is improving living standards and to have the opportunity to establish a personal connection with both the producers and factory workers."

In the current market, customers are much more discerning about the products they buy. More customers are asking for environmentally friendly and ethically manufactured garments, but they want to be reassured that what they are buying is the genuine article, says Juliet. Visits to India help Epona to verify that its ethical and environmental standards are being maintained and improved upon. Regular audits are carried out, but as Antony found, the first hand experience is very valuable.

"Going out ourselves puts a lot of weight behind our supply chain, which is important as customers often ask me how we can prove our ethical credentials," he says. "Certifications obviously legitimise our products, but personal trips also improve the monitoring process. Seeing the farms and factory myself brought it all to life and gave me more confidence to share these experiences with our clients."

With so many accreditations around, providing printers with relevant information on how garments are produced can in turn be used as a valuable marketing tool to promote ethical products to end user customers and ensure they are getting the product they are looking for, adds Juliet.

During his trip, Antony visited six farmer groups in the Adilabad/Kagaznagar regions of Andhra Pradesh. Farmers are organised into co-operative groups of nine to 35 villages called OFAs (Organic Farmers' Associations), whose representatives meet every two weeks. While he was there, Antony attended some of these meetings to speak to the farmers about the impact Fairtrade and organic farming was having on their lives. One meeting was with the Pallamguda co-operative, which was the village Juliet went to last year. "We felt it was important to go back and see what improvements and developments had happened since last year, as these farmers had only just converted to Fairtrade/organic when I went," she says.

One of the main benefits of the Fairtrade scheme, is the 15% premium farmers receive on top of the Fairtrade price. Antony found that the Pallamguda co-operative was using this money to build a meeting room and storage area for the cotton. Other co-operatives including the Navegaon and Bareguda villages were using their premium to improve roads, schools and put in a drinking tank and water pumps because their well is dry. The guaranteed Fairtrade price also means farmers are not at the mercy of unscrupulous traders, which gives them much more stability and enables them to plan for the following year, says Juliet. 

"One of the most rewarding aspects of the visit was seeing how enthusiastic the farmers were about converting to organic farming and the obvious pride they had in their newly learned organic farming techniques," says Antony. "Every farmer I met wanted to show me his manure compost heap (in its various stages from cow dung to fully formed compost); how they made their crop spray from cow urine leaves and rice; and the border crops used to detract pests rather than using man-made chemicals."

All AOFG (Agriculture and Farming Group) farms are converting to organic and are either in year one or two of the conversion. The farmers felt the main benefit of organic farming was financial, as they receive a higher price for organic cotton and don't have to buy expensive fertilisers. There are around 40 trainers from AOFG who have regular training sessions with the farmers to educate them and improve their farming skills.

Constantly in the news, garment manufacturing is the highest profile element of the production process. Epona's supply chain is vertically integrated, so the spinning, knitting, dyeing, cut and sew are all owned by one management. This means that nothing is contracted out, which is where a lot of problems occur in conventional production set-ups, says Juliet.

"As we are selling a premium product in a commodity driven market heavily reliant upon cheap prices, ethics alone will not be enough to sell a product," she explains. "Customers may want to buy green, but with belts tightening due to the credit crunch, businesses have less money to spend on promotional marketing and end-users need good reason to part with their hard earned cash.

"Part of Antony's visit involved checking the quality of the garment. The cotton we buy is superior long staple cotton, which achieves a premium fabric. As our supplier is relatively small and has a vertically integrated set-up, it is easier to monitor and keep production standards high.

Visits also help us to build a two-way relationship and show we have a genuine commitment to ethical production. This encourages the factory to implement more changes and helps us to check good working conditions are in place, such as standard working hours, double pay for limited overtime and no child labour. In addition, an FLO (Fairtrade Labelling Organisations) audit took place in August and the factory recently became GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) organic certified."

Juliet concludes: "Going back to the fields three years running has helped develop a trusting relationship with the farmers and shows that we are in it for the long term. By sharing our experience, we hope that our clients will in turn share it with theirs and help to improve the end-user's relationship with the products they buy. We are currently developing supportive marketing material such as producer photos, a new website with e-blog, unbranded webpage with information on our products, copies of certifications and a brochure presentation to help promote the products' life stories to customers."

Web: http://www.eponaclothing.com/

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