Just in time for summer
the Fairtrade Foundation's launch of the first Fairtrade labelled beauty products means we can all smell gorgeous and bare some lovely soft skin, says Sarah Irving.
Fairtrade certified food has been around for 15 years now. 1.5 million farmers worldwide benefit from getting more stable, fairer prices for their products, and 3 of every 10 bananas bought in the UK has the Fairtrade mark. Some beauty product companies have been using fairly traded ingredients for years, but that haven't been able to use the label for their overall products, just list the fact on the packaging. But the launch of the new labelling standard means that Fairtrade claims can now be backed up with the well-known mark.
According to Tomy Matthews of the Fair Trade Alliance Kerala, whose members are supplying fairly traded turmeric and cinnamon to Visionary Soaps, the move is the logical step in beauty industry ethics – from the long-running campaign against animal testing to “products that are cruelty-free for people too.”
Chris Davis, head of Policy & Producer Relations at the Foundation, described how the percentages of Fairtrade certified ingredients in a product with the label can be as low at 5% for leave-on products (creams and lotions) and 2% for wash-off products, because of the high proportion of water they contain (soaps and washes). But every ingredient for which a Fairtrade version is available has to be Fairtrade.
Davis explained that the levels have been set low to get the widest possible coverage. “At these levels, 50% of the beauty products sold in Britain could have the label,” he says. That, he went on to state, poses a challenge to all the other beauty companies which don't currently use Fairtrade ingredients, and potentially represents a huge opportunity for Fairtrade producers. And, he emphasised, there are plenty of products from makers like the Visionary Soap Co and Bubble & Balm which already contain 99-100% Fairtrade ingredients.
Who's got the Mark?
The first six companies to have their products approved include ethical stalwarts such as Neal's Yard Remedies, Lush, Essential Care and Visionary Soap company. Bubble & Balm is a whole new brand launched entirely as a Fairtrade option, with an online innovation which lets customers order their own choice of fragrances.
And highstreet chain Boots is on the list too too. It's moving all possible ingredients in its popular Extracts range over to Fairtrade sourcing. The products will, according to Boots' Paul Tomlinson, be available in over 1,000 stories across Britain, making Fairtrade buys accessible for just about everybody.
The luscious ingredients going into some of these Fairtrade body balms, foot lotions and bath gels include olive oil from Palestine, vanilla from Kerala, rooibos from South Africa and brazil nut oil from the Amazon – all of them previously certified for food use.
Empowering women
But some new ingredients have also being certified specifically for the beauty products range, such as shea nut butter from Burkina Faso. According to the Fairtrade Foundation's Harriet Lamb, this is a really important move, because the tiny, landlocked country's economy is largely dependent on cotton, which is at a low ebb on the world market.
Getting Fairtrade terms for their shea butter, therefore, means a significant increase in income for the women's co-operative growing and processing it. The women's first move has been to spend part of their Fairtrade premium on a cart, so they no longer have to carry sacks of shea nuts 10km to be processed. And the Fairtrade Foundation is hoping to follow this up with labelling standards for other major beauty product ingredients such as coconut oil.
For more information, see the Fairtrade Foundation's dedicated beauty products website at www.fairtrade.org.uk/beauty
What's on offer ?
For total luxury and an amazing smell:
Neal's Yard Sensual Jasmine Body Cream
For cool feet in hot weather:
Lush Fairtrade peppermint foot lotion
Anyone missing Woollies' pic 'n' mix?
Try the amazing range of soap scents from the Visionary Soap Company
For clean, toned faces:
Essential Care's purifying mint mask
Want bespoke body care?
Pick your own scents with Bubble & Balm's 'Made for Me' range
For Fairtrade on a budget:
Boots Extracts range of body butters, lip balms and body washes , now with Fairtrade ingredients.
Sarah Irving is a freelance writer specialising in social and environmental issues
