Fair Trade

The 10 Principles of Fair Trade specify the ways that Fair Trade Enterprises are set up and behave to ensure they put people and the planet first. As Guaranteed Members of the World Fair Trade Organisation (WFTO) Greater Goods and our suppliers are regularly and thoroughly audited on the 10 principles by independent assessors.

So what does it mean in practice? In short, it means that the makers of our products get a fair deal.

This includes well paid and safe jobs in a comfortable working environment free from discrimination, child labour and forced labour. Those are the very basics. And then, the organisations we work with do a bit more: by helping workers to grow as people and develop their businesses and their skills,and through support for local charitable organisations.

And we pull our weight too, with advance payments, help in product design, good prices and long term trading relations. We also try to make our environmental footprint as small as possible. We try to be fair to our customers too, through fair prices and good customer service.

Please get in touch if you would like more info, there is a lot more to say on this subject.

Fair Trade at MCC

What does Fair Trade mean for the artisans who make our incense?

All our incense is made at a small company in Puducherry in South India called Mother's Commerce Company (MCC). The artisans come to the units to work so there is no working from home.

The units are spacious, well-lit and clean and working hours are limited. Wages are well above minimum wage, and far above the wages that the ladies would receive working elsewhere. During Covid, all artisans received their wages as usual, even though work stopped, and they received additional help in the form of food parcels.

At Dashain, an annual festival that takes place in October or November, everyone gets a bonus that is equivalent to one month's wages. All artisans have a permanent contract, so they have the security of guaranteed work all year-round, of a generous amount of paid holidays, of contributions to their provident fund and of payment of their health insurance premiums.

On top of that, the artisans can take part in a 'bicycle scheme' and can get interest free advances on their wages.

MCC tries to maximize the number of artisans it employs by making our incense and the packaging by hand.

Each fragrances has its own mix of ingredients, which is carefully created and rolled onto the sticks by hand. And the lovely marbled packaging is made by hand too: hand marbled, hand cut, hand folded and hand glued.

There is more information on how our incense is made here.