Bexhill prepares for Fairtrade fashion show

Having concluded a successful Fairtrade Fortnight earlier this month, Bexhill is now looking forward to a Fairtrade fashion show on Friday.

While Fairtrade Fortnight, which ran from 25 February to 10 March, passed more or less unnoticed in Hastings, it was a busy time in Bexhill, which has been a Fairtrade Town since 2007. The highlight was a gathering held, with special permission, in the council chamber, Jack Doherty, chairman of the Bexhill Fairtrade Committee tells HOT. In his capacity as chairman of the East Sussex Federation of Small Businesses, Lord Brett McLean of Hastings addressed the invitation-only gathering, which included the council chief executive and council leader, on the topic of ‘Making Fairtrade Your Business.’

Other activities included Fairtrade breakfasts and other events at various local schools and churches.

Since it was set up in 1992, the Fairtrade movement, which is represented in the UK by the Fairtrade Foundation, has made great strides in spreading its philosophy of combatting poverty in the developing world by paying producers a fair price for their goods. Fairtrade products such as tea, coffee, sugar, bananas, chocolate, wine and tee-shirts are prominent on supermarket shelves – as Jack points out, we now have a choice of some 4,000 products from eight million farmers and producers which carry the Fairtrade brand. A recent survey showed that the Fairtrade logo is recognised by 91% of the British population.

But there is an ongoing need for publicity, Jack says, and part of the committee’s work for Fairtrade Fortnight involves trying to get decision-makers and leading figures in public life such as the mayor and local member of Parliament to attend the various arrangements.

The fashion show, to be held at Bexhill Sixth Form College, has now become a regular event in its own right – this will be the sixth edition. The garments on show are designed and made by A-level students as part of their course-work. The materials are either recycled or procured from ethical, fairly-traded sources, such as London-based Pants to Poverty, which makes knickers and underpants from fairly traded cotton, in the process supporting 5,000 farmers.

Among the conditions for becoming a Fairtrade Town, the local council has to pass a resolution committing itself to support the Fairtrade movement and use Fairtrade products at its functions. Just like Bexhill, Hastings council has done this. But unlike Bexhill, no Fairtrade committee has been established in Hastings. It is the committee which is the driving force for spreading the Fairtrade message and encouraging local people, organisations and enterprises to adopt it.

The Bexhill committee spreads the word so well that last year it won a Fairtrade Foundation award for networking and use of media.

Fairtrade Fashion Show: Friday 22 March, 7.30pm (doors open 7pm), at Bexhill Sixth Form College, Penland Road, Bexhill. Adults £5, concessions £3.

Bexhill Fairtrade Town website.

Fairtrade Foundation here.

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