More than ever before, customers are interested in the origin and ethics of their purchases.
I remember when I first started Stroud Farmers’ Market and first opened The Made in Stroud Shop, very few people were that interested in fair trade, ethical sourcing and the environmental impact of their purchases.
I used to regularly argue with packaging sales reps that “plastic bags are bad for turtles” and they would look at me as if I was strange, while I insisted on using paper bags from the get go, even though they cost around ten times as much.
Sure, there was The Body Shop, and Anita Roddick was one of the first visionaries in the area of cruelty free products and sustainable packaging, but generally there was no consumer led movement towards sustainable purchasing. Whole foods and vegetarianism were considered niche & hippy and veganism was rarified. Supermarkets sold a very limited range of foods and gave away plastic carrier bags like they were going out of fashion.
Working with the south west coop in the early two thousands, I helped their management team to source the very first fairly traded re-usable supermarket bag. At the time from Bishopston Trading, who were based in K.V. Kuppam, a village in Tamil Nadu, southern India and in Bristol.
How things have changed, with calls for a global strike on Thursdays to destabilise the financial markets, and people everywhere demanding apartheid-free shopping (and rightly so). The ‘no thanks’ app has now been downloaded by well over 10 million individuals wanting to avoid buying products on the boycott list. Many huge brands are facing criticism for their stance on global issues including the genocide in Palestine.
This great shift in interest is a fabulous opportunity for business owners to look at our sourcing, packaging and general practices, and to talk with clarity about our values and how these are represented in our products and services.
Certainly, Stroud is streets ahead, with the HQ of Ecotricity here and a strong culture of shopping local and supporting independent businesses.
People are thinking a lot about ‘quality over quantity, buying things that last, shopping in person rather than clicking, and being part of a strong resilient community.
Because finally we are all waking up to the reality that the personal is political, and that if we want to make an impact, our hard-earned cash is a great place to start.
