With all the celebrations for World Fair Trade Day, I haven’t been able to come up for a breather for the last two weeks. In the midst of all this the New Statesman and Edge Upstarts awarded me the Social Entrepreneur of the Year 2006.

Of course it’s not about me, it’s about having an amazingly committed and socially entrepreneurial team, and really great customers supporting us. In Japan, 100 events were held in Fair Trade Shops, universities, and in international co-operation centres. We estimate that about 15,000 people attended WFTDay events in Japan, the biggest event being the event in Tokyo Womens Plaza (part of UN University) where just under 500 people attended a Fair Trade Fashion Show and seminars; Fair Trade producers came from Bangladesh and India and we had key progressive company CEOs discussing the spread of Fair Trade and ethical business practices in Japan. And even workshops on block printing with natural dyes!
It was brilliant fun, we had Raihan and Gini from Swallows a handweaving womens’ group in Bangladesh, and also Lucas and Nagendra from Asha, a group in India specialising Fair Trade and natural dye blockprint textiles. Nagendra brought all the natural dye materials, and stewed them up in a pan to make the authentic paste, and despite the climate being very different than Pedana (his hot and humid village in Southern India). Hundreds of people were able to experiment using the heavy wooden block print to make seamless and exquisite designs.
Why is Fair Trade important?
Whether it be women on the handlooms in Swallows or the blockprinters in Pedana, by buying a shirt made through this process 10 more people can be employed than if the same shirt was made through a machine process. Nagendra explained to the general public, media and over 100 buyers from Fair Trade shops what this meant to people in his area. We have to start putting people before machines.