Busiest month ever for Pachacuti

Well, we certainly seem to be bucking the recession. Busiest month ever in May by miles (in 17 years of running Pachacuti). Need to take on at least 3 new members of staff to keep up as everyone is run off their feet. It seems like all the world want Panama Hats at the moment, which is fantastic news for us! They always say that a recession is a good time to differentiate your business and it seems to have worked for us. We are going to be rebranding in the autumn, with a nice new website as well, so we are really excited to see how this develops.

We have so many exciting projects in the pipeline at the moment, both in the UK and with our producers in South America. As well as our ongoing work on the SFTMS action plans with our producers, our panama weavers are going to be partipating in an EU Geo-Fair Trade project. This will track the provenance of our products back to the communities where they are made. Of course, this is really essential for Panama hats as genuine Panamas are only made in Ecuador. I'd love to think that sometime soon a customer could buy one of our hats, put a code into the GPS and see exactly where their hat was made.

Travels in May

What a busy month. Haven't yet worked out how to update my blog from the IPhone, but you can see updates on Twitter @Carrysomers

In the middle of May I was invited by the World Fair Trade Organisation WFTO to go out to Nepal to address the conference on our experience of participating in the pilot for the SFTMS. As the first organisation in the world to go through external auditing against the draft standard, both in the UK and in South America, it was really valuable to be there and to tell everyone about the positive benefits which the certification process has brought to the structure of our business. The process has given the producers a real say in how we development our annual improvement programme so that they can direct how Fair Trade can best benefit their business, whether through improvements in health & safety, training in skills, environmental sustainability or community projects.

I got so much positive feedback about my talk at the conference, even from people who I knew were not in favour of the new label, that it has certainly boosted my confidence in public speaking and I now feel that I could talk anywhere! It's a hurdle I've wanted to get over and I knew that speaking to 200 people would be a good way to get over my nerves and I actually quite enjoyed the experience in the end!

Sunrise flight over the Himalayas to see Mount Everest was a definite highlight of the trip and the only thing I got to see outside of the hotel.

Straight after coming back from Nepal (with horrible bug or food poisoning, still haven't worked out what it is and no time to go to doctor) it was straight to Chelsea Flower Show the next day. What madness! Everyone loved our hats and some people were walking out with four or five at a time! We had a great reaction to our new range of narrow brimmed panama hats in a range of colours and styles.

Then up to Scotland for a three day family holiday near Loch Morlich, where I used to spend every childhood holiday. Could have done without being laid up with Kathmandu tummy, but it was lovely to revisit all the places where we used to walk every year. Back down to the Lake District then for the Holker Festival - always one of our favourite events of the year.

This morning it has been the filming for my video for the Women in Ethical Business Awards and now off to London for the Observer Ethical Awards tonight. Off to pick up my dress which I haven't even seen yet! It is made by the incredibly talented Amin Phillips (Love and be Loved) who made my dress for my visit to the Queen, so I have every confidence in his ability to create something stunning for this evening.

Awards & Press

Here at Pachacuti we have had an exciting few weeks hearing that we are shortlisted for 3 awards:

I am a down to the final 3 in the Women in Ethical Business Awards Small Business category. You can vote for me at The Times online here
I am also shortlisted in the Social Entrepreneur category of the Ernst&Young Entrepreneur of the Year awards in the Midlands/Northern region
Finally, we are finalists in the Observer Ethical Awards with our Panama Hats in the Fashion category.
June will be an exciting month with three award ceremonies to attend.

Pachacuti has had some fantastic press and PR over the past few months, featuring in The Telegraph, The Times, Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, Easy Living, French Elle and more... see our press photos here

Our mail order department and shop have been very busy over the past month with sales substantially up on last year. Pachacuti started in a recession in '92 and so we feel well placed to weather this downturn. In fact, we see it as an opportunity to carve out a niche for ourselves and thrive. I believe that consumers are looking for ways to connect with the products they buy. They want to know that the money they spend is well spent, both in terms of buying a quality, durable product and also knowing that the purchase will benefit marginalised producer groups on the other side of the world. Stylish designs which will last for years, made slowly, with care and attention to detail, under the highest fair trade and environmental standards - all of these will set us apart from the competition and I believe that we will be a stronger organisation at the end of 2009.

Our First Fair Trade Report

Just in time for World Fair Trade Day!

Pachacuti is the first 100% Fair Trade company to complete the Pilot for the World Fair Trade Organisation's new certification process. We have been audited by certified EU auditors, both in the UK and in South America. As part of the requirements of the SFTMS standard, we have completed our first Fair Trade Report which gives details of our fair trade and environmental work from last year and commitments undertaken during the current year. To download a copy of the report click on the following link:

Pachacuti Fair Trade Report 2008-9

Sustainable Fair Trade Management System completed

We have finally completed the SFTMS - the first pilot fair trade organisation in the world to pass through the process and be audited. It has been a lot of work and a steep learning curve over the past 9 months for myself, Mark, my staff and all of our producer groups in Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. This month an auditor visited some of our Ecuadorian producer groups and we also received an auditor at our Ashbourne offices. We have completed our first Fair Trade report which gives details of our fair trade and environmental work last year and commitments undertaken during the current year as a result of our assessments of producer groups carried out last October.

All of our producer groups have kept to their action plans which are bringing about social, health and safety and capacity building improvements. For example, our embroidery group have all had eye tests and I will be buying glasses for those who need them. It seems that a lot of the embroiderers require an eye operation rather than glasses and so this will be a large additional expense. However, the embroiderers themselves certainly do not have the finances for an operation and so this will have to be paid for by Pachacuti.

We have seen so many improvements since starting work on the SFTMS in terms of our relationship with our producers, particularly with regard to implementing quality control checks, improving processes and procedures and finding ways to improve transatlantic communication. It has really brought about long-lasting benefits to the way we operate and we are excited to be the first Fair Trade organisation in the world to have completed the pilot. We look forward to the eventual launch of the label by the WFTO as we hope that this certification will lead to increased sales from mainstream buyers and bring lasting benefit to our producer groups.

Hatty Award Winner

I am really honoured to have been chosen as a winner in the first-ever Hat Life Hatty Awards. Hatty Awards for 2008 have been given to designers or companies that have shown leadership and inventiveness in the headwear industry.

Hat Life Magazine said "This years’ winners were chosen by a panel of judges from a large group of nominees. Although creativity is an important ingredient in the Hatty Award mix, it takes more than just a pretty hat to make the grade. It takes a bit of bravado and a lot of dedication to be singled out among your peers". Hat Life was established in 1872 and a page about my work will appear in the 2009 Hat Life Directory - the encyclopedia of the hat industry.

University of Essex Alumnus of the Year 2009

I was working at home today on the SFTMS as I needed to concentrate on analysing the data we had collected on our trip. It wasn't until the end of the day that I walked down the path of our little cottage in the chilly Staffordshire hills and checked the letterbox. Inside the box was a letter from the University of Essex saying that I had been chosen as their Alumnus of the Year for 2009. I feel incredibly honoured at receiving such an accolade, particularly when I think about how many graduates and postgraduates pass through the University each year in such a variety of fields.

I gave up my chance of a fully funded PhD in order to work with the co-operatives I had met whilst on the research trip for my MA in Native American Studies (University of Essex 1990-91). Two of the groups had experienced arson attacks due to the threat they posed to the power of the middlemen and I realised that the access to market which I provided was their only source of income. As I result, I made the hard decisions to postpone my PhD at Essex (indefinitely it seems, as it is now over 16 years later) and instead to spend my time helping these groups by designing knitwear suitable for export and training them in design skills and business development. I'm sure that I made the right decision, but do often regret that I was not able to spend the time researching my PhD. This award of Alumnus of the Year provides a real validation of the worth of the work I have been carrying out and I hope that I will be able to set an example to other graduates when I attend the graduation ceremony in July and demonstrate that ethics and entrepreneurship can combine to create a successful business model.

SFTMS Baseline Assessment in South America

Evaluation of Pachacuti's SFTMS Baseline Assessment Trip

15 October – 2 November 2008

We have recently completed our first baseline for the SFTMS (Sustainable Fair Trade Management System) with 8 producer groups in Ecuador, Bolivia and Peru. The assessments were led by Belen Sanchez, a Masters student from Ecuador who worked with us as an intern for two months over the summer and developed the tools for this work. I gave a presentation to each group about Fair Trade and the work of Pachacuti in South America and took notes throughout the process and Mark Rogers, my husband, did the Eco Mapping and took photographs of the day's activities.

The assessments took the form of 1-2 day long meetings designed to engage and elicit input from each group’s administration, employees and/or homeworkers. Each assessment involved:

1. Pre-screening in the UK- analysing market, legal, quality and customer requirements pertinent to each group
2. Fair Trade Principles Analysis– investigating producers’ understanding of and adherence to Fair Trade princples.
3. Group Structure/Organigram- defining different roles within each group to facilitate communication
4. Employees / Homeworkers Feedback- providing feedback from the workers on how Fair Trade is affecting their lives, covering issues such as Fair Wage, Training, Satisfaction with the quantity of work, Health and Safety and Satisfaction with the management of the group.
5. Production flow chart- analysing the workflow of the organisation with the aim of implementing quality control practices in the production process
6. Eco-mapping- identifying social, environmental and health and safety issues in our producer’s production processes and premises
7. Working plan- mutually identifying and prioritising actions to be implemented as a result of discussion about the above points which will improve their adherence to fair trade principles and our fair trade business relationship.

I believe that the SFTMS baseline assessment allowed us to gain a greater understanding of our producer groups and provided a basis for effectively communicating and planning our fair trade business relationship. Feedback provided by the groups generally found the SFTMS baseline assessments to be a very rewarding and educational experience for them.

A few common observances were deduced from our SFTMS baseline assessment experience.
The SFTMS:
1. Provides a structured and objective way of looking at each organisation and their FT business relationship with Pachacuti. This was the first time for many groups to sit down and take a strategic look at their business and how it works.
2. Cleared up confusion, over what is Fair Trade and the FT requirements. Remarkably, after a 7 year trading relationship with Pachacuti, one group still thought Fair Trade was a european company .
3. Helped to identify weaknesses and opportunities for improvement within each organisation and their fair trade relationship with Pachacuti. During the assessments, most organisations appointed new responisibilities to members which will improve their efficiency.
4. Gives a greater voice to the workers. By speaking directly to us without management present, workers were able to give unhindered feedback about the amount they were being paid, their health and safety, skills development and the general conditions of their work. This allows Pachacuti to have real information to assess and develop how our fair trade activities can improve the quality of our producers lives.
5. Immediate positive impacts to the health and safety of our workers. Many workers complained about the dust from raw materials, but didn’t like wearing their mask while working. We agreed with management that a new policy be implemented making workers wear masks when needed. Pachacuti has also agreed to purchase 2 professional respirators for chemical handling. We have also agreed to pay for eye tests for our embroiderers and look into ways of providing glasses for all 80 members of the embroidery group and will pay for a medical examination for our alpaca knitters who cannot afford to visit the doctor.
6. Gave us greater insight into the importance of the organisations for the participating members. We were told by one embroidery group- “We are more than a business, we are community and a family.” Another group of knitters said – “There are no chiefs here- we are all equal parts of the community. “
7. Highlighted positive environmental improvements already being made by our groups. We were very pleased to see the water filtering and recycling system of our hat producers and the solar hot water heater of our natural dye knitters. We are also exploring how we might be able fund one group’s water motor project as part of our carbon offsetting.
8. Strengthen Pachacuti’s ability to offer assistance to our suppliers. By taking an in-depth look into how our suppliers work, we were able to pass on best business practice.
9. Allows producers to direct how Fair Trade will benefit them the most. By developing an annual action plan with Pachacuti, producers prioritise and commit to activities which will strengthen their organisation.

The trip provided a valuable insight into the work of our producers and we were really pleased with the standards which we saw and the feedback which we received about the difference which our fair trade purchasing makes to the producers and their communities.