Fairtrade Home

Before Christmas I spoke to a woman who was ordering our velvet fabric to make her own Fairtrade curtains for her living room. She had already bought a selection of cushion covers from us and some throws from another company: she told me she was planning to refurbish the room with only Fairtrade/Fair Trade items. It got me thinking as to just how far could you go towards having a Fairtrade/Fair Trade home....

1. Furniture. The appropriately-named Fairtrade Furniture can help you with this. Their comfy and stylish armchairs are made by skilled Javan crafts-people.

2. Floor-Coverings. Adorn your floors with beautiful Indian Kilims from Myakka. Like us, Myakka are based in the South West of the UK. They have been sourcing their products from Indian suppliers on Fair Trade terms since 1999.

3. Bedding. Of course you can source Fairtrade certified organic cotton sheets, pillowcases and duvet sets from us, or you could just go for the first two and make yourself a patchwork quilt of Fairtrade cotton cloth from Fairtrade Fabric instead of the duvet set - in either case you'll be creating much needed employment for the weavers of K.V.Kuppam.

4. Bathing. After a bath-time pampering with Neal's Yard Fairtrade Jasmine Shower Gel, dry yourself off with a soft and cosy bath towel from Natural Collection.

5. Wining and Dining. Finally relax with a glass of Fairtrade wine from Ethical Wines, sipped from Fair Trade recycled glasses handcrafted in Bolivia.

Let me know of other items you can think of to add to a future Fairtrade/Fair Trade home...

Fairtrade in the Family

We recently had a lovely lady in our Bradford on Avon shop who bought a velvet skirt. She was delighted with it and the following week came in to buy her baby a stripey poloneck to match her own that she had bought a few weeks before.

She said she could remember her mother buying her clothes from us when she was a child, as a matter of fact her playgroup leader was a director here at Bishopston Trading Company many years ago. Her mother still buys clothes from us: so three generations of the same family dressed in our organic Fairtrade cotton clothing.

Thanks to Laura and Lucy for this one!

Fairtrade Cotton Fabrics - On Sale!

Happy New Year everyone. Our sale is currently in full swing and it includes what we think is probably the largest range of organic Fairtrade certified cotton fabrics on the web.

We've got shirting-weight handloom, a lighter lawn, sumptious velvet, and practical denim: all at reduced prices. If one of your new year's resolutions is to make your own clothes, or mend the ones you already have, then take a look here.

Freshly woven handloom cloth arriving at the K.V.Kuppam Tailoring Units.

Happy Christmas!

From all the staff at Bishopston Trading Company and from our partners in K.V.Kuppam, we wish you a very Happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year.

Organic Fairtrade Cotton Tea Towels

Ros first joined Bishopston Trading as part of a work experience placement whilst at school in Bristol. Later she bacame a Saturday Assistant in our Bishopston shop. Later still she worked with the K.V.Kuppam Embroidery Society and the Jewellery and Screenprinting Society. Several of the products we still sell online and in our shops today (several years later) were designed by Ros.

Nowadays as well as running art and craft activities with children in Bristol, Ros makes bags, brooches, collages and prints that she sells on Gloucester Road, just up from our shop, in a little gallery called Fig. Recently she approached us with a very attractive design for a tea towel. These are now being produced for her in K.V.Kuppam and sold in the Fig shop.

Bishopston Trading Company grew out of a twinning link between the area of Bishopston in Bristol and the village of K.V.Kuppam in South India. Almost 25 years later, we are still an organisation happily embedded in the local communities at both ends. We thought the story of Ros' Tea Towels illustrated this nicely.

Ros' organic Fairtrade cotton Tea Towels available at Fig, 206 Gloucester Road, Bristol.

Fairtrade Nativity

I wish I'd written this post this time last month. Earlier in the year we were approached by a very friendly company with an unusual name who were enquiring about ordering our organic Fairtrade cotton cloth on a wholesale basis. The company's name is While Shepherds Watched!

Of course we were more than happy to supply them with the cloth and generate more work for the weaving community of K.V.Kuppam. In conversation with them however, we learned that we could do more than just supply them with the cloth: While Shepherds Watched produce ethically-sourced nativity play costumes, really effective but simple tunics which would be no problem for the K.V.Kuppam Tailoring Societies to produce.

So that's what we're now doing: not only are the costumes made from organic Fairtrade certified cotton, they're woven and stitched in the village of K.V.Kuppam by our Fair Trade partners.

It's probably a bit too late in the nativity-play season now, but bear it in mind for next year: Mary, Joseph and the Shepherds can all be clothed ethically and fairly!

Eco-Footprint

In my last post I mentioned that like all organisations, there are things that we at Bishopston Trading could be improving on to reduce our Ecological-Footprint. Here's a few:

Letting People Know about the Environmental Impact of their Clothing.

I've heard it said that the majority of a garment's environmental impact is produced by our care for it once we've bought it. I can't find an exact figure, but certainly the washing, spin/tumble drying, and ironing of garments over their lifetime can be energy intensive (tumble drying's a big no-no). We recommend using an eco-detergent, washing at 30 degrees, hanging our clothes on a line to dry, and then steam ironing them.


Turning Off our Computer Monitors at the End of the Day

Sometimes in our rush to leave the office at 5:30, we don't wait to turn off our monitors. I come in in the morning and see an array of little flashing green lights. We need to improve on this.


Reboiling the Kettle

I have to admit its quite common for me to boil a kettle of water to make everyone in the office and in the shop downstairs a cuppa, then answer the phone or start typing an email, forget about the kettle and have to reboil it 15 minutes later.... Definitely losing points on that one.


Lighting in our Shops

Our shops have to be well lit to show off the distinctive colours of our clothing range, its one of the main reasons given by our customers for why they shop with us. We're currently looking into the best low-wattage option for all these spotlights.


We like to think we're doing well, but as with everything we can always do better...