How Fairtrade cotton helps workers
For many years we’ve bought clothes completely unaware of where the material we wear comes from. Many items of clothing are made from natural fibres such as wool or cotton, with many other man made materials also like nylon and polyester. With cotton being an example of a natural resource that has been associated with fair trade this is a good example as to how fair trade cotton helps workers.
The farmers and people who collect the cotton from fields are often exploited by their employers with unfair wages, long working hours and usually poor working conditions. It is something that has become a major issue of conscience for consumers in richer parts of the world. We would like to think that the people that made our clothes, farmed our food and other things we take for granted did so in a safe working environment and were paid a fair wage. This hasn’t been the case unfortunately and so the new trend in many industries is to become Fairtrade affiliated.
Fairtrade stems from The Fairtrade Foundation who upon recognizing the plight of small scale farmers set out to accomplish the following goal: To assist disadvantaged food/clothing producers to improve their economic and social position. This would be done by allowing them improved access to world trade markets and ensuring consumers like us are made aware of how our choices can affect others and make better purchasing choices.
The overall goal is to make big companies and chain stores to re-think their system of trying to pay the least they can get away with and pay a fair price that takes the worker’s welfare into consideration. The fair payments have not just helped make sure the workers get the correct pay but have also been able to fund improvements to communities and local projects such as clean drinking water, building schools and health centres.
A lot of Fairtrade clothing is also made from organic materials which is why you will often see the two causes logos next to each other. By using organic cotton these farmers are able to not only ensure the longevity of their resources but also their livelihood.
