1. FAIRTRADE TEXTILESFAIRTRADE TEXTILES BY EMILY SIDDALL AND LEAH HASLAM

2. Fair-trade is a great thing but many people only know about products such as chocolate and bananas. Shops sell them, and many other fair-trade retail products but not many know about products such as cotton. Only now are people starting to buy Fair-trade cotton and making things out of them such as bags and clothing.

3. What Fair-trade Does! Fair Trade is an organisation that helps to keep fair trade going on in poorer countries. Unlike cheaply produced products, the workers that produce the fair trade items are given a much fairer pay. This scheme helps families to earn a lot more money, and altogether have a better life. These are a few more things that fair-trade does... 1.Buy produce off farmers and offer them a decent price instead of offering them a cheap price and the farmers not being able to get a profit. 2.Stops trade discrimination against the weaker producers. 3. Helps weaker traders get back on track and check up on the farmers working conditions. If they are bad they will improve them by giving a higher price than other people for their crops.

4. Fair trade cotton is the same as normal cotton, except the workers who have, for example, picked the cotton buds, will have been paid a fairer wage. Often fair trade cotton is of a lot higher quality than cheaply made cotton.This is because the aim for the businesses supporting the cheaply made stuff, is to have the most items made, not to be a better quality.

5. Fair-trade Cotton in Detail! Fair-trade starting buying cotton and selling it in 2005. Over the past 4 years fair-trade has helped hundreds of farmers. In 2005 Fair-trade only made 0.2 million from the sales and buying of cotton. The estimated price for last year however is a massive 77.9 million. That is a great achievement for fair-trade. This has helped the people in developing countries very much. Also the publicity of fair-trade cotton has increased. Now shops such as marks and Spencer, Primark and many more are using Fair-trade cotton in some of their bags and clothing. Some of their profit is then given to Fair- trade which is guaranteed to be given to the farmers who have sold the cotton. Many of the developing countries have made great improvement s with this extra money and one of these examples is a place called Cameroon later on in the presentation.

6. How does Fair trade in the cotton industry affect the workers? Fair Trade makes a big difference to workers. For example, workers who make natural pesticides for the cotton, now have enough money to send their children to school. When selling the cotton, Fair trade also makes a big difference. People selling the cotton in poorer areas receive 37% more for the fair trade certified cotton than they would have got on the normal market. This makes so much difference to families, the money could even save some ones life.

7. Fair-trade and Cameroon! In Cameroon many children have been being forced to work for their family as they are not getting an education. Also they were being taken for granted with the prices being offered for their cotton. There are over 320,000 cotton farmers in Cameroon but only 10% of them are fair-trade certified. When they buy the cotton, they also get given a little bit extra money, this makes more people enthusiastic about working and helps to motivate the people. A small town in Cameroon, called Langui Mahol, has been a member of Fair- trade for 2 years and has already built 3 new fresh water wells with their profits. Also with the extra amount being offered they have been able to build another 3 wells. Most of the people in the village are very grateful that Fair-trade has helped them and want to write Fair-trade on every single well in that area. Now they are being offered a fair amount for their produce and getting a profit to spend on buildings and wells for the community.

8. More about Fair-trade! Although cotton farmers are getting bad pay for their produce, it isn’t the only problem happening with cotton trade. Young children are being forced to work for food or if their lucky a small wage. They have to work or else their family cannot afford food. The working conditions they are forced to work in are appalling. But fair-trade tries to stop this and helps the people who have been affected by it. Also they try to improve the working conditions. This happens because of cheap clothing shops trying to make a big profit. Shops such as Primark sell a lot of cheap products which usually aren’t good quality. But what fair-trade is trying to do is sort out these work places and make them a pleasant environment with a decent wage. Also they have a standard quality which has to be maintained with the products they are producing and no low quality products will be put on sale.

9. Our opinion on Fair-trade! We think that fair-trade is great for the cotton industry and these are just a few reasons why: 1.They help with the working conditions of the people who are making products 2. They provide a great and fair price for their produce which allows them to earn a decent profit. 3. Fair-trade makes workers able to buy food for their family and provide a home. 4. They can spend spare time at home as they don’t have to work as many hours and get paid more. 5. They can benefit the community by building schools and being able to afford an education for their children. 6. They are helping developing countries become better places and are publicising the things that are going on in the cotton industry and how we can help. 7. Finally, we see no reason why fair-trade shouldn’t be used. There are only positive things fair-trade can do for people.

10. Do people buy Fair Trade Cotton? Yes, a lot of people do, however this cannot stop the fact that many cotton items are produced at extremely low prices. Sweat shops will still be used to produce the very cheap clothing. Although Fair-trade does help, it cannot solve every problem to do the cotton trading issues.

11. Which companies support fair-trade cotton? Many Businesses support fair-trade cotton here are just a few: Marks & Spencer Debenhams John Lewis Next Sainsbury's Topshop and Topman Warehouse This is a good sign for fair trade that all these shops are investing in fair trade items, it will help sales for the fair trade cotton to be sold in popular shops like these.