Bishopston Trading

Bishopston Trading Company is a Fair Trade company whose sole aim is to provide employment for the people of the South Indian village K.V.Kuppam, with whom they have been working in partnership since 1985. Bishopston are members of the World Fair Trade Organisation and have designed and manufactured Unicorn aprons from the beginning using Fairtrade certified organic cotton.

Bishopston utilise the traditional handloom weaving that was once one of the major crafts of the area. In essence the company is a trading partnership: Bishopston provides the design and marketing skills and the capital investment in the form of forward payments, and K.V.Kuppam provide the weaving and tailoring skills. From small beginnings, when six people were employed in the Tailoring Units in K.V.Kuppam, the company has grown to provide employment to almost 200 tailors, cutters, hand-finishers, embroiderers and craft workers.

A further 90 people are employed as handloom weavers who produce the beautiful handloom Fairtrade certified organic cotton cloth that is used to make clothes, toys, bags, bedding and much more.

The company now has five shops in the Southwest of England (Bradford on Avon, Glastonbury, Totnes, Malmesbury and Bishopston Bristol), as well as an online and catalogue mail order business and a wholesale department.

The price they pay ensures the members of the K.V.Kuppam Tailoring Societies receive above average wages, secure employment, a health care allowance, provident fund, gratuity and an on site crèche for their young children.

All profits generated by the business which are not used to grow the business and generate further employment in K.V.Kuppam are donated to Bishopston’s charity, The South Indian Rural Development Trust, which supports social development projects in the area.