Question and Answer session
Q. What uniform items do you sell now?
A. In the schools sector, we sell 50% fairtrade-organic cotton and 50% recycled polyester: polos, fleece fabric sweatshirts, cardigans, hoodies. 100% fairtrade-organic cotton t-shirts. We also sell eco (recycled polyester) blazers, eco-friendly P.E kit, eco ties, and many other items under our "fairtrade offset" scheme, where when we have to source "conventional" products here and there, we channel a small amount of the revenue therefrom to fairtrade causes, for example our schools support project.
For university clothing, we sell 50% fairtrade-organic cotton and 50% recycled polyester hoodies, full zipper hoodies, 1/4 zip hoodies, sweatshirts, jogging bottoms, 100% fairtrade-organic cotton chef's aprons and t-shirts. We also sell corporate workwear to these specifications.
Q. Do you also sell to organisations wanting Fairtrade items, or to individuals?
A. Yes, both. We supply a number of businesses, including north link ferries out of Aberdeen, and True Origin, another niche Fairtrade company. There is a "plain garments" page on the Koolskools website for individuals that wish to buy our fairtrade clothing. Click here to find out more.
Q. Are the cotton farms co-operatives?
A. The farmers are farming as part of individual cotton farming villages, or groups of villages, all under the umbrella of "Chetna Organic", the largest non-for-profit umbrella organic cotton sourcing organisation in the world. Chetna works with over 20,000 small scale cotton farmers across three Indian cotton-growing states, and the organisation assists the farmers to get their cotton to markets, as well as offering training in planet friendly farming and ways of mitigating climate change. I suppose one could loosely describe Chetna Organic as a giant cotton farming cooperative.
Q. Where in India are your factories?
A. Our factories are in Tamil Nadu, southern India
Q. Andy, is your vision that one day all school uniforms in the UK are provided from ethical producers (whether or not through Koolskools), and that each school in the UK is linked to a school with one of your producer regions?
A. I wish! In our small way we are trying to disrupt the school uniform market, and I think that, particularly in Scotland, where we now have over 80 client schools with numbers growing, the big conventional Scottish suppliers are perhaps beginning to take notice. If one of them were to launch a Fairtrade cotton uniform range, we would consider this a watershed moment for the industry, and a bit of a modest victory for our on-going advocacy and growing business sales. Then, England and Wales would be the next big challenge!
Q. What is the extra cost of Fairtrade school uniforms in the UK? Do you find that some parents struggle with the more expensive Fairtrade uniforms, and have any schools come up with solutions?
A. Parents in economically challenged areas do struggle to afford school uniform. Just as they struggle to afford many of life's necessities. Our deal with the schools and parents is that we are offering a range of good quality garments that enable their children to spend 6 or 7 hours per day, 5 days a week, wearing for 40+ weeks per year, which wash well and last longer than the average item of school clothing.
They also make good "hand-me-downs" for example, so compared with branded, fast fashion garments, they represent much better value for parents.
On solutions: if the uniform is a little more expensive, some schools, particularly in Scotland, innovate. There is a wonderful Fairtrade school in Cupar, Fife, called Castlehill primary, where one of the Fairtrade championing teachers each year runs charity fundraising to part-subsidise their school leavers' hoodies.
Last year, for printed Fairtrade leavers' hoodies costing £24.95, the teacher was able to offer each parent an £8 subsidy from the charity fund-raising exercise. Now that is the true spirit of Fairtrade in action!
