ethical shopping for babies

Fairtrade Fortnight 2010 is upon us and Piccalilly have just launched their new designs made from Fairtrade certified cotton.  So what is the 'Piccalilly Way'?  Well lets find out . . . Read more...

This year Fairtrade fortnight is here and the theme is The Big Swap  Everyone can help by swaping their ususal products to Fairtrade.  The Fairtrade Foundation want one million and one of us to make the swap!  You can register your swap on the Fairtrade Foundation's website

We as a family always buy Fairtrade bananas, it becomes such a habit that you forget sometimes why you buy them.  I was passed a link to this fantastic supermarket in London with an article on their website about Fairtrade bananas.  Just a little reminder!

What do we think?  Never ever ever buy bananas that are not fairtrade!  You are directly contributing to the exploitation of people in the developing world and there are no excuses.  You can't plead ignorance these days, it's been in the papers and on the news so don't buy bananas if they're not fairtrade. . . . simple!

In the 2009 New Years Honours List, Mrs Samantha Morshed, Founder of Hathay Bunano p.s. (HBPS), has been awarded an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire), for her services to the rural poor and disadvantaged women of Bangladesh.

HBPS was started in 2005 with the aim of creating employment for the rural poor women of Bangladesh  that is fairly paid, good quality, flexible and local.   To create employment  that fits in with the women’s lives and prevents the need for economic migration and family separation.

HBPS works on the principle that mothers and babies should be together and that all mothers should be afforded the dignity to be able to adequately provide for their children.  That every adult should have the right to a good job and a decent home and that it is our responsibility as a society to enable this.

Samantha Morshed started HBPS by teaching a small group of women how to knit by hand and then finding an export market for those products.  HBPS now creates work for almost 3,500 artisans in 32 rural production centres all over Bangladesh and is continuing to expand rapidly through market demand.   The products are exported over much of the world to USA, UK, Australia, Scandinavia, Middle East and Europe.

Samantha Morshed is a British woman married to Golam Morshed, Chairman of HBPS, and Bangladesh is now her adopted home.  ‘Bangladesh is a beautiful country full of great potential.  It is a country rich in manpower who are waiting for the opportunity for good quality work.   Coming here five years ago, I felt that I had skills and abilities that could be put to good use to make the lives of some Bangladeshis a little better.   Five years on, we still have a huge amount of work to do but we have proved that it is possible and that is the greatest hurdle.’  Samantha Morshed said.

HBPS produces a whole range of hand knitted childrenswear and childrens products and these are also sold in Dhaka at Insignia on the Lobby Level of the Westin Hotel.

Little Green Radicals baby and children's clothing is all about fun, colour and slogans.  'I recycle my tantrums' and 'give peas a change' are just two of many popular catchphrases printed on T-shirts, playsuits, bibs and hoodies (coming soon).  Everything is exclusively made with Fairtrade certified cotton ensuring the farmers right at the bottom of the chain receive a fair deal for their crop and an extra premium to use on projects to help their local communities.  Not only this but everything is also made from organic cotton. . .

Growing organic cotton is very different from growing conventional cotton. All the cotton we use is hand-picked and organic. This ensures the farmers don’t have to handle dangerous chemicals and our clothing is kinder on your skin. The  cotton is certified organic to either Skal or Demeter standards. Since May 2006 all our prints have been produced using the most ecological water based inks available.

The company 'Hug' has recently been acquired by a giant of the ethical industry 'ethical superstore'. So with all these fantastic ethics, clothes and new financial backing we expect great things from 'Little Green Radicals' .  Look out for the latest baby and toddler range at Babi Pur

Frugi organic babies and kids clothes has evolved from the label Cut4Cloth. This Cornish company was origonally set up to tackle the problem of ill fitting clothes for babies wearing cloth nappies but they have branched out into clothes for older kids and breastfeeding mums. 

The Cut4Cloth clothes are still going strong under the Frugi brand and it's not just the extra room around the bum that makes Frugi so great. Frugi recently recieved the highest ethical score from ethical consumer magazine out of all baby clothes producers. Their cotton has the Ecocert organic certification which also guarantees the workers a fair wage and the clothes are made in a Fairtrade factory in India.  Frugi is also a member on 1% for the planet donating to the Pesticide Action Network (or PAN) and the Cornwall Wildlife Trust. We love their environmentally friendly eco potato packaging which reflects the level of detail Frugi go into.  To shop the Frugi baby range visit Babi Pur. For older kids visist the Frugi website.

Piccalilly Hot Cotton

Piccalilly

Piccalilly are one of our favourite producers of fair trade and organic baby clothes.  Superb quality clothes and some absolubtley gorgeous prints.  As well as baby clothes, Piccalilly produce gift bags, adult sized bathrobes, towels, party bags and much more.

From the beggining founder Hannah Evans has been fully commited to the fair trade label and it's ethos. Sourcing cotton from Faitrade certified producers in India and using Fair trade projects to make the garments themselves.  Piccalilly know their supply chain right from the source because they've been to see it. The CHETNA project is where they get their cotton, a guaranteed price is paid and an additional premium which is invested by the cotton farmers into clean water, schools, roads and medical centre's. The cotton is also certified by the Fairtrade foundation, they're the people whos label you see on tea, coffee and bananas amongst many other products.

So with organic cotton, environmentally sound dyes, fairtrade cotton/manufactuing and fantastic colourful baby clothes Piccalilly continue to lead the way in ethical baby fashion!

Visit the Piccalilly website or buy online at Babi Pur