Fairtrade bag

The Fairtrade bag for a better life

Our partnership with Supreme Creations has made the cotton bag become one of the biggest success stories in the Co-operative’s history of Fairtrade support.

The Co-operative has always pioneered in developing ethical products and in 2005 when cotton joined the Fairtrade system, we recognised the opportunity to protect the environment and continue our support for Fairtrade.

Finding a supplier that supported our ethics took time but Supreme Creations, who owned a modest factory in Pondicherry, India rose to the challenge.

Working closely together from sourcing sufficient cotton, to securing Fairtrade approval of the factory and the supply chain- in February 2006 the first Fairtrade supermarket cotton bag was launched in the UK.

The success of the cotton bag has been phenomenal and Supreme Creations has expanded their capacity to meet growing customer demands. Over 2000 jobs have been created and as the average employee earns 33% more than the minimum wage this had a positive effect on the local community. Since 2006, over £360,000 has been returned in Fairtrade premiums allowing for better education and clean water.

It doesn’t stop there, for every bag sold a proceed is made to the children’s charity ‘The Wings of Hope’. So far a donation of £75,000 was raised, enough to fund over 200 years of education for the orphaned children of Malawi and India.

Supreme Creations has since become the world’s largest ethical manufacturer of reuseable bags and is completely carbon neutral. This year Supreme Creations won the credible award of National Example of Excellence for Supply Chain from HRH Prince Charles based on their partnership with The Co-operative. For more info visit 
www.supreme-creations.co.uk

This really is the ‘bag for a better life’ and you can be a part of it today. Visit your nearest Co-operative Food store and help us continue to support the Fairtrade movement.