Safia Minney MBE

The ongoing recession has inevitably led to a lower spend on fashion in the UK.

But over at People Tree, trends are being bucked. Mail order customers have risen 20% on this time last year - proof to Safia Minney MBE and People Tree Founder, that their customers are making a choice to buy fabulous quality, fair trade and organic clothing.

With the recent release of their new transitional collection, People Tree continue to strive to give people what they want; great fashion from a truly fair trade supply chain.

We persuaded busy Safia to stay still for long enough to let us into the secret of her success and found out what drives her ethical passions.

Lots of awards lately – Observer Ethical Awards, MBE… how does it feel?

The MBE was a lovely honour, but it would be better still if we were filling the Queen’s wardrobe with fair-trade and organic clothing. We need more British ambassadors for fair trade fashion in the UK and the Queen would be great. I haven’t met her yet but I would love to show her the beautiful hand woven fabrics our artisans produce.

You were a real trailblazer for ethical fashion. How hard was it to set up the fair-trade lines of supply?

We started in Japan 17 years ago where the designers and technicians worked very closely with the villagers and producers. They helped set up production lines, and trained those villagers with patience to ensure they got it right.

The designers’ love of textiles was so apparent; they simply love what they do and this has allowed us to build up the most amazing supply chain, where people and their skills are valued. Of course now the supply chain is more main stream, we can offer advice to anyone who is interested in ensuring their products are fair trade.

Human rights and fair trade is essential for us, we spend £¼ million each year in technical assistance. But everything we do is fair, and our products reflect this.

Running People Tree is like standing in a gale force 8 wind; it’s not only a fashion house but an ethical bank and a campaign agency all in one.

There’s lots of competition now in the fair trade fashion industry which is good news for the workers benefiting from fair trade. What keeps People Tree unique?

Well, there is a lot of fair trade fibre out there in the movement but what is unique about People Tree is that all of our production and supply chain is fair trade too. This is where People Tree is innovative: making a difference in every part of the supply chain. But even though Human Rights is extremely important to People Tree, people don’t buy our products as ‘sympathy purchases’ the clothes and accessories stand up in their own right.

Do you think it’s important for people to also buy locally made fashion?

Yes. There are so many amazing tailors and designers who can re-make or update our clothes. And there are locally based, organic textile companies who are really significant. But fair trade is different. People Tree ensure the maximum benefit for every worker in the supply chain; in fact they earn double. We ensure best practise and strive for poverty alleviation.

With shops still offering rock bottom prices on fast fashion, how can we encourage people to pay more for ethical fashion?

The recession is good in many ways as it has made people think about how they spend. We have seen a 20% growth in our online sales, which to us, means that people are choosing to live closer to their values, think carefully about how they spend and opt for fair trade and organic fashion.

Across Europe there are many people choosing to downsize. They are buying less but opting for better quality. This huge cultural trend is being pioneered because things just don’t add up. Global warming, underpaid workers, people need to work together to find solutions.

I have two teenage children and I feel that it’s about creating opportunities for them to make the correct decisions about what they buy. They have learned about organic farming and fair trade at school and when they aren’t buying People Tree or Terra Plana, they are going to charity shops or swapping clothes with their friends. It really is becoming cool to care.

Dogtooth dress £90.00

When will we see People Tree shops on all the high streets?

This is totally dependent on consumer support and it comes down to cost. Selling online is effective but we realise that people do like to see and feel what they buy, especially with some of the beautiful fabrics that we have.

At present, we have 50 stockists in the UK and another 50 across Europe. This summer we have opened our pop up shop in Brighton, and plan to open our shop in Tokyo in the autumn.

Of course, if anyone wanted to come along and finance us to get up onto the high street we would be more than happy to talk!

We met at the launch of the People Tree Foundation with Jo Wood. How are things going with that?

Great, moving ahead. We are still fundraising and looking at ways to involve new producers and exciting new lines.

Do you think women should dress differently at different ages? Can a 50 year old dress like a 20 year old?

Well surely it depends on the 50 year old and how she wants to represent herself? Or the 20 year old for that matter. I happily swap clothes with my 13 year old daughter and I am 46. She wears shorter skirts than I do – which I think is right!

We saw you cosying up to Colin Firth at the Observer Ethical Awards. What’s he like? Can you get him to be a green god for us?!

Erm, no sorry that would be quite difficult for me to do. I know his lovely wife Liv much better who has a great shop, Eco Age in London. (Aww schucks! – Ed)

The tremendous hard work over the last 17 years has reaped many rewards, not least ensuring many people are paid a fair wage for the work they do. Would you rather do anything else?!

No. No I would never do anything else. Well maybe in about 15 years I could leave it alone behind and sell ice creams. Fair trade and organic of course!

(Somehow, I think not.)