Human Empowerment

When talking about creating fair standards for the supply chain, the organization “Fair Trade International” comes to mind. Although they have necessary standards, these are not sufficient. Having most of our supply chain in a relatively developed country like Turkey disqualifies us from “Fair Trade”. Since the income level in Turkey is already much higher than in less privileged countries, the country's wage level is automatically considered fair. Unfortunately, this is actually far from the truth. In Turkey, even the people with lower income levels manage to live better lives than people in countries with low GDP per capita. However, we hold ourselves to higher standards. Therefore, “Fair Trade” is not enough. The day-to-day concerns of an Average Turkish farmer are is very different than the day-to-day concerns of an Average farmer in East Asia, South America, or Africa. Instead of barely making ends meet, they consider the choice to invest in making sure their children are integrated with today’s world and dynamics. Our projects funded together with our partner brands from all over the world ensure that blue-collar employees in our supply chain are also provided with disposable income to engage in social and cultural activities.