Ethical & Fair Trading
What does Fairtrade really mean?
"Fairtrade is a strategy for poverty alleviation and sustainable development. Its purpose is to create opportunities for producers and workers who have been economically disadvantaged or marginalized by the conventional trading system. If fair access to markets under better trade conditions would help them to overcome barriers to development, they join Fairtrade"
Fairtrade is a tool for development that ensures disadvantaged farmers and workers in the developing countries get a better deal through the use of international FAIRTRADE mark.
Here at David Luke we are committed to developing our range of Fairtrade Cotton products over the next few years and look forward to being able to really make a difference and offer Schools and parents that Educated Choice.
Being a registered licensee of the Fairtrade Foundation, allows us to earn that badge of recognition that we are trading fairly, however it does only cover a small part of the vast range of Schoolwear we offer. Therefore to ensure all of our garments are produced in an environment where everyone benefits and progresses, we have our 'Responsible Code of Practice' in place with our suppliers and it works very well; this is detailed below along with a comment from DAVID BURGESS, MD which reflects our ethos.
David Burgess, Managing Director comments:
"Instead of scouring the Earth to get the next cheapest price, we work closely with our factories to achieve a level of trust, which results in practical savings and has seen some wonderful technical developments which benefit everyone."
This Code continually monitors every supplier to ensure that not only are the standards being met but that improvements are being made all the time. It is very important that these standards do not drop, as we have a social responsibility to everyone who is involved in the process that they benefit.
A brief summary is below of our 'Responsible Code of Practice':
We ensure that all local, national and international laws are met with regard to workers rights, employment law, workers conditions, environmental issues which impact everyone involved. The document is split into the below 10 points.
- General Principles
- Environment
- Discrimination
- Forced Labour
- Child Labour
- Wages & Benefits
- Working Hours
- Working Conditions
- Freedom of Association
- Monitoring & Enforcement
If we feel that any of these local, national, or international laws are not stringent enough to meet our principles then we give the factories guidelines of what we expect.
We believe the above principles allow us to create 'long term' business relationships with our factories. This is can be a huge benefit to all concerned as they can confidently develop their lives and communities based on repeated, long term, reliable business and this is what we believe is the key to fair and positive trade.
