Hatti Trading Ltd is a socially conscious business selling Fair Trade handbags in order to support Nepali survivors of human trafficking and other impoverished, marginalized, and stigmatized women in Nepal both directly and indirectly. Fair Trade’s strategic intent is to work with marginalized producers and workers in order to help them move from a position of vulnerability to security and economic self-sufficiency. In the case of Hatti Trading, the company provides an above-market, living wage to the women who make the bags (“producers”). Hatti Trading also invests in education programs and other social welfare ventures aimed at eradicating extreme poverty in Nepal and improving the lives of producers and their communities.  For example, Hatti Trading has started a programme to sponsor the Nepali children rescued from circuses in India by the Esther Benjamins Trust to go to school. (In Nepal, education is not free and less than 50% of girls get to go to school. Currently over 80% of adult women cannot read or write.)

Hatti Trading has been certified as a Fair Trade Importer by The British Association for Fair Trade Shops (BAFTS).  During 2007, Hatti Trading will be registered internationally as an IFAT Fair Trade organisation. For a new company like Hatti Trading, these things take time because the International Fair Trade Association (IFAT), which certifies Fair Trade businesses, requires that new businesses demonstrate a record of fair trade dealings for two years before they will grant fair trade certification.

Clothes and accessories are getting cheaper and cheaper and we all love a bargain, but what is the hidden cost?

In a factory somewhere in the developing world, hundreds of women and men are bent for hours on end over sewing machines.  The conditions they work under would be illegal in Britain, but they have no choice.

If a garment or bag costs £10 to make in the UK, it will cost just £1 to make in a third world country, so understandably many supermarkets and cut price shops choose to place their orders in these countries. The supplier needs to fulfill the order and still make a profit, so how do they do it? It’s easy, they pay the workers less.

In Sweat Shops, what rights do the workers have?

No sick pay
No maternity leave
No maternity pay
No holiday pay
No orders - no work
No decent wage
No overtime pay
No pensions
No benefits
No rules about how often they must take a break
No employment contracts
No Union they can join
No State Benefits they can claim if they can’t work

NO RIGHTS – If they complain, they will be sacked.

What can You do?

Support Fair Trade organisations. When you see ‘a bargain’ that seems impossibly cheap, it probably is. A woman somewhere has probably suffered to make it. When you see Fair Trade goods, buy with your conscience.

What is Hatti Trading doing?

We are constantly looking to support organizations and develop supply sources with fair trade policies.  We support organizations that develop employment opportunities for maginalised and stigmatized individuals who cannot find employment elsewhere.  Examples include Esther Benjamins Trust, Maiti Nepal, the Women’s Skills Development Project, and the Association for Craft Producers.

We constantly aspire to:-

Fair Wages for Workers
Safe Working Conditions for all employees
Development of Community Projects
Development of Maternity Benefits
Development of Sickness Benefits
Fair Conditions of Employment
Training and Development of Skills Programmes
Development of Child Education Programmes
Support Small Cottage Industries and Craft Producers

The world and human exploitation cannot be changed overnight, but with your support, we can begin to help those less fortunate than ourselves to overcome vicious poverty cycles.