The Fairtrade Textiles Standard was launched in Tirupur and Indore in December 2016. The training modules developed for the programme were introduced to the participants and Fairtrade Asia Pacific’s supporting role was discussed in detail.
The Tirupur launch was attended by 28 participants including senior management representatives of traders, President of Tirupur Exporters Association (TEA), brand representatives from Mothercare and s.Oliver as well as the Fairtrade team comprising of Dr. Rossitza Kreuger, Global Product Manager; Ms. Dorothee Wirtz, Project Manager, Textile Standard, Fairtrade Germany; Rabea Schafrick, Sustainability Manager, Brands Fashion; and members from the Fairtrade NAPP team.
The launch began with Sethu, Sr. Associate, welcoming the participants. Rakesh Supkar, COO, Fairtrade Asia Pacific then gave the participants an overview of Fairtrade and its work. He also introduced the team who would be involved in the Textile Standard work in the region.
This was followed by Dr. Rossitza Krueger, Global Product Manager giving a detailed presentation on the Textile Standard and programme. She briefed the participants on the need for the programme, its various components and the standards scope of impact.
Ms. Dorothee Wirtz, Project Manager, Textile Standard gave a brief on how Fairtrade Germany has been taking a leading and pro-active role in promoting the Textile Standard. She mentioned the three brands – Brands Fashion, Mela Wear and 3 Freunde who have come on board already.
Ms. Rabea from Brand Fashions shared her experience of being part of the standard and reasons for coming on board. She emphasised the need for more and more supply chains to be part of this kind of an initiative to be able to make sustainable changes in the textile sector.
Mr. Raju Ganapathy, Principal, NAPP then presented the training modules developed for the textile program and explained how NAPP would play a supporting role on the ground by providing hand holding support before, during and after the certification process.
