Its a difficult one this thread and one that will always cause controversy.
I think it would be pointless to get dragged into a debate over working ethics etc in the far east. I agree on Simon's suggestion that companies should develop a fair trade approach and all I can say is we are a small company trying our best.
Where we can we will attempt to get products or components manufacturer in the UK, but there simply isn't an robust infrastructure to support this. e.g. Most specialist fabric mills are in Japan and the far east, buckle manufacturers in mainly in the far east.
Our £5 headtorch attracts criticism due to its low price.. how can we do this etc, but what I think people should question is that we buy this product for the same price as many other companies purchase theirs. Yes, some of the more reputable manufacturers have large development & marketing costs to support but not many. Many just package an off the shelf item in more plastic than the product is made of and sell them at what ever price they think the market can withstand.
Sorry rant over.. I will say will always try to develop and source products from as fairer sources as we can. I'm off to read the fairtrade website.
Jim from ALPKIT.
Posted: 21/12/2005 at 11:02
