The WFTO (World Fair Trade Organization) summit took place in Lima between September 16 and 19. The WFTO has a total of 412 members and 325 affiliated fair trade enterprises in no less than 76 countries over four continents. Noteworthy is the fact that 54% of senior positions in member organisations are held by women.
The 400 people attending the summit, which took place at the El Pueblo Hotel, included buyers, representatives of fair trade organizations, government officials and delegates from international agencies like Simel Esim from the ILO (International Labour Office) and Isabel Durant from UNTACD . (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development).
Among the topics discussed were links to the Sustainable Development Goals, climate change, procurement policies, marketing strategies, ties with fair trade towns and provision of fair wages.
Ms. Judith Condor-Vidal, director for the UK organization Trading for Development, organised, in collaboration with Casa Betania, from Intercrafts another Peruvian WFTO member, a small exhibition of Naturtex organic Pakucho brand cotton textile products.
These included, as show in the image, hand knitting yarns and baby clothes fashioned from natural, undyed ancestral native cotton fibers, The four-day exhibition was very well attended, with people captivated by the display of the Pakucho naturally colored organic cotton.
Founded in 1997, Naturtex currently manufactures some 450 different eco textile products from ancestral Andean textile fibers, including baby alpaca and native cotton in natural, undyed colors, under Fair Trade certification since 2005, EKO sustainable textile processing since 1997 and both EU and NOP organic cultivation practices since 1995. For more information, contact Naturtex at info@perunaturtex.com
Trading for Development TFD shows that ethical business practices and high quality fashion and interiors products can coexist in ways that bring sustainable development to deprived areas of the world. We do this through enhancing traditional skills of producers by developing tools, building links with leading fashion houses and universities in Europe and marketing Fairtrade products worldwide. For more information, contact TFD at info@tradingfordevelopment.co.uk
We do this through enhancing traditional skills of producers by developing tools