Fair Trade Fashion Roundup – Pants to Poverty

fair trade logo

As World Fair Trade Day approaches, FaeriesDance.com is highlighting amazing manufacturers and brands that focus on fair trade clothing.  Today’s featured company is UK brand Pants to Poverty. In 2005, Nelson Mandela stood in Trafalgar Square and called for a generation to rise up and Make Poverty History.  (Hear his full speech here.)  That speech inspired the creation of Pants to Poverty, an underwear brand with a mission to rid the world of “bad” pants.  From their website,

“We’ve got a very English name. In England, in case you didn’t know, Pants are not trousers, but they are underwear. However, more than that, if something is pants, then that means it’s terrible! So, “Pants to Poverty” means Poverty is terrible, as well as saying that they are fairtrade and organic underpants! We all need pants and so we aim to provide pants for all people, in a way that supports, rather than destroys, all of the wonderful people that make them!”

With that goal in mind, Pants to Poverty started manufacturing their pants in an area of India so poor it was dubbed the Suicide Belt.  This is one of their earlier videos produced just 3 years after they started business, but it’s a great summary of the work they’ve done and continue to do.

pants to poverty underwear

The pants themselves have evolved as  the company grows, gains experience and gets feedback from their customers.  The Moulin Ruche style has become very popular with women, while the men seem to like the newest Long Leg Brief best of all.  But we continue to carry the brand for their amazing dedication and commitment more than any other reason.  The fantastic products are just a bonus. If they cost a few extra bucks, well you know it’s going to a great cause and it suddenly makes your underpants an interesting topic of conversation. 🙂

pants to poverty mens underwear

Pants to Poverty is also diligent about following their entire production line, so the farmers are taken care of just as well as the factory cutters and sewers.  The company regularly travels to India to make sure everything stays on track.  This year they even brought their models to India both to do an in-the-field photo shoot and to be sure that every person in the Pants to Poverty family understands the importance of fair trade and organic and has the opportunity to experience it first hand.  The experience really touched many of the folks who had the opportunity to go.

In Pants to Poverty’s own words,

“With climate chaos, the global financial meltdown and growing poverty around the world, the consequences of doing nothing are terrifying… but we prove that doing something amazing can be easy, fun and even sexy!”

So with that in mind, I’ll leave you with a completely gratuitous video of one of their photo shoots, because we absolutely agree that fair trade is sexy.

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Written By Adrienne