The annual campaign in the UK this year plans to encourage people to ‘take a step for Fairtrade’. Koolskools has been taking many “steps” around the country offering interactive presentations on Fairtrade cotton and the Koolskools ethical clothing journey during this busy Fairtrade Fortnight, when Fairtrade seems to be “buzzing” everywhere we go!
The annual Fairtrade Fortnight campaign, which takes place this year between 27 February and 11 March, has revealed news that sales of Fairtrade continue to outperform overall commercial trends. Estimated retail sales of Fairtrade products reached £1.32bn (€1.56bn) in 2011, a 12 per cent increase over 2010, and continued growth is expected in 2012. The theme for the 2012 campaign is ‘Take A Step For Fairtrade’, calling on the UK public to take 1.5 million steps for Fairtrade – one for every farmer and worker the Fairtrade system hopes to work with – by the end of 2012. A special ‘step-o-meter’ has been set up on the Foundation website so that these steps can be logged, including the Co-op’s decision to switch all its bananas to Fairtrade.“Fairtrade is an example of responsible capitalism in action,” says Harriet Lamb, executive director of the Fairtrade Foundation. “The commercial reality is that forward-thinking companies are showing leadership in committing to Fairtrade, realising that, as well as it being the right thing to do, they need to invest in smallholders, developing better, longer-term relationships, to ensure the future supply of commodities like cocoa, coffee, sugar, tea, fruit and more.” During Fairtrade Fortnight, Koolskools is delivering interactive presentations at: Exeter College; St Mary’s Catholic Primary School in Bodmin; a Plymouth Fairtrade Campaign Group event at Plymouth University; Uxbridge College; Worthing High School in Sussex; Fulston Manor School in Kent; a major Fairtrade gathering organised by the Preston Fairtrade Campaign Group at Penwortham Girls’ High School in Preston; The Littlehampton Academy; St Wilfrid’s Catholic School in Crawley; and finally Silchester Primary School in our home county of Hampshire.At the events at Exeter College,
Plymouth Uni and Penwortham High School we joined forces to spread the Fairtrade word with officials from the Fairtrade Foundation – in Exeter and Plymouth Koolskools presented with John Arnold, Head of “Producer Partnerships” at the Foundation, and in Preston Koolskools teamed up with Celia Masse, one of the Foundation’s schools campaigns officers, who in turn was shepherding a Mali Fairtrade cotton co-operative representative through a busy two weeks of FTF activities. An extra special treat was on offer from the Koolskools team in Plymouth and Littlehampton. At those two venues, where we connected the respective gatherings up to Koolskools fantastic factory in Mauritius, the factory managers explained the benefits of being a factory licensed to handle Fairtrade certified cotton.But don’t worry, we are not “Fairtraded Out”!!! We at Koolskools will continue our travels around the country to spread the Fairtrade word and keep trying to persuade more schools, colleges, corporates and charities to introduce Fairtrade cotton to their uniform.
Andy, Mike and the Team
Koolskools