People Tree Proves The Power Of Fair Trade Fashion At Wto Meeting

Fair Trade and ecological fashion label People Tree will prove the success of Fair Trade fashion to the delegates of the 6th World Trade Organisation Ministerial Meeting in Hong Kong this week. People Tree's pioneering fashion show, on 14th December, is one of the main events of the three-day Fair Trade Expo to be held opposite the WTO meeting, in the Hong Kong Exhibition Centre.

People Tree will preview their beautiful, handcrafted spring summer 2006 collection, which supports 4,000 small scale producers from some of the world’s most marginalised communities in countries including India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Peru and Kenya. As well as paying a fair price and advance payments, committing to long term orders and providing technical and design support, People Tree invest in social and environmental programmes in the communities where the clothes are made.

With top New York model Summer Rayne Oaks flying in to support the campaign for Fair Trade, joined by models from a Hong Kong agency and hair and make up by Aveda, the show will prove just how good Fair Trade can look. The Honorable Mr Kamal Nath, Indian Minister for Commerce and Industry, will be officially opening the show and invitations, printed on mini People Tree organic tee shirts, have been sent to WTO delegates, NGOs and international business leaders.

Safia Minney, Chief Executive and founder of People Tree, said: “Our Fashion Show will prove that Fair Trade is a viable alternative – and where better to drive home this message than at the WTO Meeting in the fashion hub of Hong Kong? We will lobby delegates, from the catwalk, on key trade issues including cotton subsidies, which are keeping producers poor worldwide.”

People Tree and other Fair Trade organizations will be taking the opportunity to call on the WTO to abolish US and EU agricultural subsidies, which are having such a crippling effect on small scale farmers in developing countries, pushing down global prices. Last year US farmers received around US$ 4.2m in cotton subsidies, equivalent to the total value of the crop itself .

The Fair Trade Expo (13th – 16th December) is being organized by an international steering committee including the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, Equitterre and Oxfam Hong Kong. As well as the People Tree Fashion Show, the Expo will include a market featuring Fair Trade products from around the world and a one-day Symposium to discuss Fair Trade. Safia Minney will sit on the panel of Fair Trade experts at the Symposium to discuss challenges facing Fair Trade as it moves into the mainstream.

For more information and to view the collection visit www.peopletree.co.uk

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