Is there more than one kind of "Fair Trade"?

This fair trade stuff is pretty complicated.  I think we're all starting to understand what “organic” means by this point - it conjures images of green fields and perfectly red, natural tomatoes. Technically, organic means grown without pesticides, but it also might mean that the product comes from a smaller farm with other kinds of socially responsible practices.  So what’s really “fair trade”?  We at Eva & Paul had a chat with a representative of the Fair Trade Federation and a representative of Fair Trade USA who explained that there are really a few types of fair trade:

Fair Trade Certified Commodities: TransFair (which includes Fair Trade USA) certifies the well-known Fair Trade products like coffee and chocolate, as well as cotton, gold, bananas, etc.  They don’t have anything to do with the business practices of businesses that BUY these products, just of the businesses that get the products out of the ground.  Let’s take, for example, a Fair Trade banana.  This banana was harvested by a co-operative in Mexico.  The farmers were paid well, the banana was harvested during reasonable hours of the day, etc.  So the banana gets Fair Trade certified.  Then Whole Foods buys the banana from the co-op, loads it on a truck, and brings it to Texas.  Were the truckers paid well?  Are Whole Foods employees paid well?  Maybe, but maybe not.  The banana is still Fair Trade.  This makes lots of sense.  But think about a chunk of cotton.  Same thing - if it comes out of the ground Fair Trade, so be it.  But what about the person who SEWS the cotton into clothing?  No idea.  Also, as our cotton producers in India explained, the cost paid to farmers for "Fair Trade" cotton is based on the highest quality cotton, while the cotton used for denim is the lowest quality.  Our partners explained that Fair Trade cotton for them was 3x the price of regular cotton, vs. 2x for organic cotton.  So for now, Eva & Paul uses organic cotton that supports family farms, but our denim is not actually Fair Trade, even though we follow similar socially responsible principles.

Fair Trade Manufacturing:  To think through some of these questions, Fair Trade USA has started to also certify factories in emerging markets "Fair Trade" when they employ responsible practices for their employees.  One of these practices is to allow for funds to go into a collective where employees can either distribute the funds as a bonus or use the funds for education programs for their children, health initiatives, etc. This leads to not only better wages and working conditions, but also empowerment for the factory workers.  The only trouble is that for a factory to be certified "Fair Trade" it has to be "Trade" which means "Made in the USA" doesn't count.  Unfortunately or fortunately, depending how you look at it, Eva & Paul is still too small to move our manufacturing out of NYC.  So for now, our manufacturing is not Fair Trade, even though we employ similar principles in terms of wages and worker treatment.  We also think about environmental responsibility, which is not accounted for per se in Fair Trade certification.

Fair Trade Certified Businesses: But what about all these "Fair Trade" earrings I see at 10,000 Villages?  To deal with some of the questions around goods that are NOT commodities, the Fair Trade Federation started certifying BUSINESSES as "Fair Trade".  These businesses have a social mission to treat employees well and they sell all kinds of products.  So lets think about cotton again for a second.  Instead of certifying the raw cotton, the Fair Trade Federation is interested in what happens to the cotton after it has been harvested.  Who processes the cotton?  Who sews it?  How does the cotton make it to the U.S.?  Fair treatment and wages for employees through the WHOLE supply chain is needed.  Eva & Paul works with a Fair Trade company in India to source our hand-printed pocketing fabric.  The beautiful designs are crafted by artisans who are given fair wages and good treatment.  Clearly this doesn't make our jeans Fair Trade - they're not.  But our jeans are made with environmental and social responsibility in mind - we think this should be the most important thing.  And, above all, we will strive to get even more certifications for us and for all our partners as we grow!

Julia, should I really put jeans in my freezer? - Fashion Thursday

As I go around town showing off my E&P jeans, a lot of questions turn to denim care. Here are a few answers to the most common jeans care questions: 

 

How should I wash my jeans? And how often?

We rinse our Eva & Paul jeans before sale, so they're not "raw" like many other premium jeans on the market these days.  Because of this, feel free to wash them.  But, according to our resident denim expert, Christine Rucci, make sure you wash them inside out so there's no abrasion to the denim - this will keep them looking dark and clean. 

Won't washing the jeans make them fade?

Our jeans do fade with wash, but not a ton - after wearing my jeans for 33 days straight during Kickstarter and washing them four times, they still look really dark, just slightly more worn.  

Can I put the jeans in the dryer?

You can put them in the dryer, but they will shrink a bit, so it's better if you let them mostly drip dry.  To get that nice cozy dryer feel, though, feel free to stick them into the dry cycle for the last 5 minutes or so. 

What's this about putting your jeans in the freezer?

Some denim brands, especially "raw" denim that hasn't been washed in the manufacturing process, recommend not washing your jeans at all.  Instead of washing the, you put them in the freezer between wears to keep odor-causing bacteria from growing in the meantime. Then they spot-clean the jeans over time. As a resident of Greenpoint Brooklyn with a tiny freezer already full of food, there's no way I could do this.  And to tell you the truth, I don't want to.  I'd rather wash my clothes every few weeks, merci.

Do you wash your jeans in the bathtub? 

I don't think my roommate would approve of my washing my jeans lying flat in the bathtub, as apparently die-hard denim heads do. I also don't think it's necessary given that we've tumble-washed our jeans in the manufacturing process.  But if you want to give it a try, feel free! Let me know if it works!

Would dry cleaning be better?

One of my best friends from college sent all her jeans to the dry cleaner.  They came back stiff with a crease down the front.  This isn't really my style, but I don't think it does the jeans any harm.

Why is it easier to care for Eva & Paul jeans than jeggings?

Great question! We use heavier-weight fabric for our jeans than many of our competitors that allows our jeans to stand the test of time. Also, using too much polyester and Lycra sometimes causes "jegging" style jeans to stretch out over the course of the day, so you have to wash them more frequently to get them back to the original size, causing the fibers to come out in the wash and the jeans to quickly disintegrate.  Our jeans keep their shape, so you don't have to wash them as often!

Women @HBS, Women in Business

Thoughts on the New York Times article on women-focused changes at Harvard Business School from E&P Founder Julia Kastner, HBS 2012. 

IMG_0132.JPG

All weekend, my cellphone has been buzzing and my inbox has been flooding.  "I just read this NYT article!" my friends write, "what do you think? Is it all true?"

My response, in general, has been that a lot of the article is right, especially in terms of HBS's culture.  There's a strong cultural focus on wealth and financial prowess, which is often possessed by men, not women.  As a female social entrepreneur on campus, I was a bit of an outsider - I didn't come from finance (I still look up terms on Investopedia on a frequent basis) so I was often afraid to raise my hand in class, and I wasn't expecting a big salary upon graduation, so I didn't feel as comfortable galavanting across the world with my classmates.  I heard a rumor that some of my section-mates rented a private island during spring break.  I wasn't invited, of course, and even if they'd invited me, I wouldn't have been able to go.

However, when my parents asked "would you have liked to have taken part in the new initiatives?" I responded with an emphatic "NO!!" I must confess I'm grateful to have missed all these new programs.  If I'd had to participate in Field III, the extra group classwork assigned on top of the basic course load, I might not have had time to do the traveling I did that helped me get Eva & Paul off the ground.  I also don't think that a 90-person class section is the right venue for a discussion of sensitive issues of any kind, let alone women in the workplace.

Moreover, sitting at Eva & Paul's office in Soho a year out of HBS, I think the school's culture is just a reflection of the world of business.  Unfortunately, it's still not really easy to be a woman in the workforce - there are just so many more men in business than women.  It goes back generations and generations - there just haven't been as many female MBA's historically as men.  And men, as honorable as they may be, see things differently - it might be hard for them to understand a company that targets women. My classmates from BaubleBar realized they had to target their VC's female to staff in order to get through the door and explain the value of their products. I'm fortunate to have a lot of support from various men in business, but sometimes conversations are just a little trickier when explaining why E&P's jeans make a woman's butt look so good - many men are surprised to learn how many women struggle with jeans shopping, whereas women almost always understand why jeans should fit better.

Challenging processes like fundraising and job hunting are just a smidge harder as a woman. I'm actually grateful that HBS was a tough environment, because it prepared me for some of the tough meetings I've had since graduation.  On the other hand, I hope in the long term business can become a friendlier, more equal place as more of us women make our ways to the top.  And I hope business and business schools move away from considering the highest-paying finance jobs as the most valuable spots, instead of also valuing consumer goods, consulting, tech, and entrepreneurship as worthwhile career paths.  I think part of this is due to the way the schools are ranked - the career office is under pressure to keep the average graduate's salary high to justify the high cost of the school, but doesn't focus on long-term careers and happiness.

I don't think it's HBS's responsibility to fix the entire world of business.  HBS students are adults, not children - they should be responsible for their own actions and be allowed to drink and travel as they please and shouldn't be so swamped with work they don't have time for the other activities that make b-school worthwhile.  But I think more awareness around the extra challenges women face is always beneficial, and I applaud the HBS administration for their dedication to this issue.

 

California Sunshine...

Day 13: Pacific views - after a relaxing brunch in SOMA, we went to Mori Point in Pacifica, San Mateo county to go for a nice short hike.  California sunshine is so refreshing!  And E&P jeans did great on their first hike!

Can a denim brand be Lean? Our Latest thoughts featured on Women 2.0

How we’re using technology, a Kickstarter campaign, and a social mission to give women everywhere jeans that fit well.