10 Principles of Fair Trade ans How We Comply

The following 10 Principles of Fair Trade are outlined by the World Fair Trade Organization. Beneath each principle we state how Awamaki complies with it.

1. Creating opportunities for economically disadvantaged producers

   Awamaki works with marginalized indigenous women weavers from rural, impoverished Quechua communities in the Patacancha Valley, in the district of Ollantaytambo, Cusco, Peru. Our weavers, like most indigenous women from this area, speak little Spanish, and most are illiterate. They do not have access to market for their weavings. Awamaki works with the weavers to improve their market access, by promoting sustainable tourism to the community, and also by selling their weavings in the nearby tourist market in Ollantaytambo and beyond.

2. Transparency and Accountability

   Awamaki works closely with the weavers in program development and project planning, meeting with the weavers weekly to discuss current projects and upcoming plans. Awamaki generates an Annual Report that includes our yearly financial report. This report is available in our office and online. We also have a yearly meeting with our weavers to share this information. We keep our financial records in our office and they are readily available for any interested party to see.

3. Capacity building

   Awamaki invests funds from weaving sales into capacity-building workshops for the weavers. A central part of Awamaki’s mission is the revitalization of traditional weaving techniques. We run workshops in natural dyes and other aspects of the weaving process. We also run product development workshops that allow weavers to increase the value and marketability of their weavings. Workshops improve the quality of Awamaki weavings and strengthen the marketable skills of our weavers, allowing them to better provide for themselves and their families.

4. Promoting Fair Trade

   Awamaki aims to educate and empower consumers to buy responsibly. On our website and in our fair trade store, we clearly express the difference between the supply chain of our products and of the common souvenirs that are widely marketed to tourists in the Sacred Valley. Awamaki also runs a Community Visits program that gives tourists the opportunity to visit our Weaving Center in Patacancha and learn first hand about our Weaving Project and how Awamaki works with the community.

5. Payment of a fair price

   Awamaki ensures fair pricing by mutually negotiating prices in an open forum with all the weavers present. We base prices on materials used, quality of work, complexity of design and the type and size of product. Awamaki pays weavers one week after each intake of textiles and does not work on consignment. When supply of fleece from their own animals is low, Awamaki assists the weavers by supplying them with yarn, thereby saving them the time and expense required to travel to the nearest large city to make purchases. Awamaki also funds the natural dyes workshops in which the weavers dye most of their yarn and is now in the preparatory stages of creating a dye garden that will enable the association to be self-sufficient in dye materials for years to come.

6. Gender Equity

   Awamaki works with an association of Quechua women weavers from the Patacancha Valley. Awamaki works to empower the women through skill-building and increased access to market, which ultimately allows them to retain their way of life and earn a stable income. The weavers are also remunerated for hosting tourists who visit the community via our sustainable tourism initiative.

7. Working conditions

   Awamaki gives women the opportunity to earn an income from the traditional Quechua craft of weaving. An essential element of the project is to allow the weavers to earn an income without changing their way of life. We take utmost care to ensure that weavers’ participation in the Awamaki Weaving Project does not interfere with schooling, family responsibilities or agricultural activities. We respect that daily life is dictated by the agricultural calendar, and that during planting and harvesting seasons production of textiles will be low.

8. Child Labor

   In a rural Quechua home, the whole family participates in economic activity, from planting potatoes to herding animals to spinning wool. Girls learn to weave in their early teens. Awamaki works with several teenage weavers, chosen by the community to participate in the Weaving Project on the basis of demonstrated need. Our school-age weavers have made a commitment to Awamaki to attend school full-time until they graduate. In turn, we have made a commitment to our student weavers to support them in their studies and ensure that they will not drop out for financial reasons. Awamaki ensures that education is given priority and participation in the Weaving Project is worked around school hours.

   Teenage mothers are an exception to this rule. Though school-aged, teenage mothers in rural Quechua communities do not attend school and we accept them into the project so that they can support their children.

   Awamaki fully complies with all Peruvian child labor laws.

9. The environment

   Awamaki gives high import to environmental responsibility. Weavers use only 100% natural fibers and over the past seven years the weaving project has succeeded in rejuvenating use of 100% natural dyes, thereby eliminating the harmful impact on environment caused by waste effluence from the process of dyeing with chemical dyes. We avoid introducing items or food to the community that are packaged in non-biodegradable materials and encourage separation of organic from non-organic waste. Equally, in our office and store in Ollantaytambo we keep minimal paper records and recycle paper, plastic bags and bottles.

10. Trade Relations

    Awamaki founders Kennedy Leavens and Miguel Galdo have worked hard over the years to build a relationship with the weavers and their families based on trust, respect and understanding. Project development decisions are made in consultation with the weavers. We pay for weavings in full one week after purchase and we rarely work on consignment, as we understand that the weavers need more stability in their income than working on a consignment basis would provide. Occasionally, and only with the consent of the weaver, we may take a piece on consignment for a special or unusual order.