Manufacturing in the UK and abroad - fair and ethical practices

Noonoo has been manufactured in our own independently-run manufacturing capability in Vietnam since 2006. Noonoo Design wholeheartedly supports and practices ethical manufacturing. 'Fair trade' in the sense that most of us are familiar with in relation to coffee and cotton is not available as a certification in Vietnam. Noonoo Design is fair in trading and manufacturing in every sense.

We have recently set up a further manufacturing unit in Swansea, South Wales to supplement and eventually take the place of overseas manufacturing, coinciding with the launch of our sister company 'flags and bunting galore'. Manufacturing flags represents a merger with an old family business with over forty years experience in this niche sector and catering for every ceremony, party and special occasion - commercial, Royal, military, domestic or otherwise.

Ethical manufacturing is about creating stable sustainable employment in a clean functional and professional environment where staff are valued for what they contribute and encouraged to develop and learn new life skills to further their employment and income chances.

How it all started - Vietnam

At the end of 2005, when it became clear that we would be unable to keep up with the demand for our product long term with the UK set-up we had developed (an unglamorous workshop above a garage!), we travelled to Hong Kong, China and Vietnam to try and source a solution.

Due to the patented process which Tink's felted lambswool textile goes through to achieve its end result, it became apparent that to get any sort of quality control and production done on our terms was going to be a problem, and so we decided to set up our own production facility.

The way it is now - Vietnam

We have created a fabulous environment for our workers - something to be proud of, and meeting all ethical issues so vital to a happy and successful work place. The premises is brand spanking new and clean (imperative for our product); the staff are paid well and work on shifts six days a week. We run the factory from the UK and speak to them on a daily basis (thank heavens for Skype!). We deal with everything that crops up on a daily basis, as if it was here in the UK, and employ people of all ages and skill levels to make our product.

We take things a step further than most and employ a full time housekeeper / cook who cooks lunch for all our staff fresh from scratch every day. This meal is coordinated so that the factory stops for an hour every midday to allow the staff to eat and rest before continuing work in the afternoon. This encourages the staff to bond with each other during this break time rather than spend time chatting when they should be working during production hours!

Community work group - Bolivia

Our alpaca and cotton knit sheep are carefully handmade by a village knitting group in central Bolivia. We try to support local communities like this as much as possible, and have been extremely impressed with the professional attitude of the workers and their industrious mentor. The workers are paid fairly and welcome other projects from independent design companies such as Tink - for more information, please contact us on goodies@noonoodesign.com. This is ethical manufacturing in the truest sense of the word.

A useful website on fair trade practices is http://www.fairtrade.net/home.html

This discusses the following: What is the difference between Fair Trade and Fairtrade?

The term Fairtrade is used to describe the certification and labeling system governed by FLO designed to allow consumers to identify goods produced under agreed labour and environmental standards. The term Fair Trade is used to refer to the Fair Trade movement as a whole and can be used to describe both labeled and unlabelled goods and the work of Alternative Trade Organizations (ATOs), Fair Trade federations and networks such as IFAT, NEWS, EFTA etc. The term fair trade is a broader term often used to describe one or many of the above, but can also occasionally be used to refer to trade justice issues. In such cases, it can be as broad as to describe general fairness in trade, such as tariffs, subsidies, worker rights and other issues.

What is the difference between Fairtrade and ethical trading?

Ethical trading means companies are involved in a process of trying to ensure that the basic labour rights of the employees of their third world suppliers from developing countries are respected. The Fairtrade Certification Mark, which applies to products rather than companies, aims to give disadvantaged small producers more control over their own lives. It addresses the injustice of low prices by guaranteeing that producers receive fair terms of trade and fair prices – however unfair the conventional market is. On top of the Fairtrade Minimum Price, the Fairtrade Labeling system guarantees a premium for producer organizations or workers bodies to enable them to invest in social, economical or environmental improvements.