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Fashion The other fair trade Safia Minney is the founder of The People Tree, a new label which has been set up using the Fair Trade principles seen in other industries such as coffee and tea, which seeks to return more of the profit to the producers in the third world cutting out the intermediary.

"Therefore, People Tree begins with the producer, based in India, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Nepal, Peru and another 12 countries. Realizing that many of its poorer producer nations have traditional skills, it seeks to combine them with consumer-pleasing design. Added to this is the company's strict environmental policy. 'using organic cotton in 60 per cent of our clothing, and non-carcinogenic (azo-free) dyes and natural dyes throughout,' said Minney."

This is a cracking idea, and the designs are splendid drawing on the origins of the producing nations but still keeping the high street firmly in focus.