“Our shirts should catch the eye of the buyer first and foremost because they are stylish and high quality. In doing so they prove this goes hand in hand with fairness and sustainability.” These are the words of An Boone, founder of the Belgian fair fashion brand Mr. Manchette. With her sustainable men’s shirts she fills a gap in both conventional clothing and fair fashion shops.
Between Parakou (Benin) where they get their shea butter and Sombreffe (Belgium) where their cosmetics and soaps are made, Nathalie and her husband Wassi have decided to do without as many middlemen as possible. This allows them to better manage the sector and to pay the women producers in the village of Parakou. And it also contributes to making their natural cosmetics a range of very high quality.
Denise Nzeyimana and Adélard Nkeshimana run IDEP, a company producing sunflower oil in Burundi. Since 2017, the company has received coaching from the Trade Development Centre. A look back at an entrepreneurial experience and the impressive progress the company has made.
After two years of coaching with the consultant Dominique Derom, the results are extremely positive for the Yeyasso cooperative. “We have evolved a lot,” confides its director Yeo Yessongbananan Moussa, and, to say the least, it shows!
Kimberley Process, Council for Responsible Jewellery Practices, as well as the Diamond and Development Initiative and its Maendeleo label used by the Belgian company My Fair Diamond, the TDC looks at various initiatives aimed at breaking the link between the diamond trade and social misery.
Your favorite chocolate’s cocoa is produced a long way from here. Cocoa is grown by producers such as Djakaridja Bitie, a representative of the Cocoa producers’ cooperative ECAM in Cöte d’Ivoire. ECAM is often showcased as a fair trade model in Cöte d’Ivoire. We take a closer look at the steps they took. Christine Englebert of Enabel’s Trade for Development (TDC) has coached this cooperative since 2017.
Chloé Mikolajczak is the coordinator of Fashion Revolution Belgium, the Belgian branch of the international movement aiming for a more ethically and environmentally sustainable fashion industry. She talks with us about the roots of the movement, its transforming strength and the challenges that brands face.
The number of shoe brands claiming to be ethical and/or ecological has mushroomed in recent years. So much so that some of them are on the verge of becoming major players on this huge market. Fleeting fad or a sea change for a business that is worth tens of billions of dollars?
According to Sandra Rothenberger, marketing professor at Solvay Brussels School, ethical sneakers should follow the path of organic food but taking the fast track.
With 1,600 members, the RéPAB (Réseau des producteurs d’ananas du Bénin) represents about 20% of the country’s pineapple producers. Since 2003, the cooperative has come a long way, and today it has both organic and fair trade certification. A turning point was marked in 2016 with the signing of a contract with a Beninese company exporting fruit juice. In order to honour this contract, RePAB had to move up a gear, among other things in terms of the management of the organisation.
