Pachacuti wins Central/Burton Business of the Year

At a glamorous black tie dinner, I accepted the Business of the Year Award (under 10 employees) in the Central/Burton Mail Business Awards designed to recognise exceptional local business in Derbyshire and Staffordshire. The award was presented to me by BBC Midlands Today presenter Kay Alexander.

The judges of the Business of the Year Award were looking for a business which demonstrated all-round excellence. The award was the most highly contested category and the judges praised the high standard of all of the finalists. Pachacuti was chosen as the winner of the award for demonstrating that it is possible to create a successful fashion business founded on the principles of respect for the environment and fair trade working practices. The sponsors were impressed by Pachacuti’s rapid growth over the past year with retail and mail order sales increasing by 50% and wholesale by almost 150%.

I am surprised and delighted to have won this award. It is encouraging that the sponsors of the award saw that my success is measured by more than sales and profit levels. Every time I visit my producers in South America I can see the difference which my fair trade business makes to the lives of hundreds of families.

In addition to winning Business of the Year, Pachacuti was also runner-up in the Innovation and Creativity Award. The sponsors of this award, Mitel, said that the finalists showed a high degree of creativity and dynamism as well as ingenuity in exploring new ways to exploit their innovation to its fullest potential.

Fair Trade Fashion at Prêt-à-Porter, Paris

I have recently returned from exhibiting Pachacuti's Autumn/Winter 2006 alpaca range alongside major fashion companies at Prêt-à-Porter in Paris. The organisers of this key international fashion event are so concerned at exploitation within the garment industry that they set aside an area of the show for fair trade, sustainable, organic and recycled fashion. I was able to use this opportunity to address the inequalities in the global fashion trade through raising awareness that Pachacuti offers a viable alternative to sweatshop-manufactured garments. I was really encouraged to see the interest in fair trade and buyers were concerned to see a link between fair trade production processes and environmental issues such as AZO free dyes and organic cotton. Pachacuti received some very large orders to supply shops in both France and Belgium.