What our Fair Trade membership commits us to
Buyers are asked to account for how their stock is made more often than they used to be. Here is what our Fair Trade Group Nepal membership actually commits us to, in terms you can pass on.
Buyers are asked to account for how their stock is made more often than they used to be — by their own customers, by the retailers they supply, and increasingly on a supplier questionnaire. So it is worth being precise about what our membership of Fair Trade Group Nepal actually commits us to, rather than leaving it as a logo in a footer.
What we are committed to
- a safe, respectful and non-discriminatory working environment
- equal opportunities for men and women
- no child labour and no exploitative working practices
- paying our producers and suppliers on time
That last one is quieter than the others and matters more than it looks. A producer workshop that is paid late cannot pay its own people on time, and the pressure travels straight down to the person at the bench.
The people it covers
Together with our sister company we employ 35 people directly, and hundreds more indirectly through the producer workshops we buy from across Nepal. Many of them have worked with us for years — the same hands, on the same lines, which is a large part of why quality holds between one order and the next.
What you can pass on
You are welcome to state in your own catalogue or listings that your supplier is a certified member of Fair Trade Group Nepal, and to describe the commitments above. If your own buyers or auditors need something more formal, ask us and we will send what we have.
Where the company came from
Yak & Yeti was founded to support Buddhist education. Since 1983 we have supported a monastery that provides both Buddhist and secular education, including for children from Nepal's remote mountain regions.
The long-term goal has not changed: a sustainable Nepalese economy built on employment, on supporting producers, and on Nepalese craftsmanship reaching the world on fair terms.