Business Ethics
There are tricky subjects, but not ones we chose to ignore as a company. A lot of people don't believe that ethics and business mix, we are more than pleased that most of our customers would oppose this idea and we try to ensure our suppliers are like-minded.
There are several areas of concern which we get asked about regularly, being:
Testing on animals
Child labour in developing nations
Fair Trade
Ecological, sustainable and recyclable products
1. Testing on animals
We are passionate about gifts, but much more about animals. We condemn any act of cruelty, for that reason.
No product we stock has been tested on animals.
What we can state however is that as far as possible we use reputable suppliers who hold similar principles to ourselves, and who endeavour to produce entirely cruelty-free product.
It is probably accurate that no basic ingredient has been tested on animals since 1987.
(Note: While we can be sure our finished products are not tested on animals, it is virtually impossible for any company to claim that all the basic ingredients that go into a product have never been tested on animals.)
2. Child labour in developing nations
We always wanted to do our bit to develop new products from developing nations.
Of course these days no exporting company from India or the far-east is likely to be using child labour as cheap or slave labour and steer well clear. Of course these days no exporting company from India or the far-east is likely to be using child labour as cheap or slave labour and steer well clear of it. Of course these days no exporting company from India or the far east is likely to be using child labour as cheap or slave labour and steer well clear of it. Of course these days no exporting company from India or the far-east is likely to be using child labour as cheap or slave labour and steer well clear of it.
Exported products usually command a higher price than the local market so there really is no commercial pressure on manufacturers to cut costs to such a degree at the risk of losing a lucrative export order.
A Personal Investigation in India
The systematic use of child labour is unnecessary and in our opinion an act of pure greed. However - and this is a tricky bit, the reality is that culturally in many parts of the world children are part of the family business.
For example a lot of our craft work is produced by out-workers in the villages. There are over a million villages in India relying on farming and craft work as a means of income. A village will hand down particular craft skills from generation to generation and rely on this for extra income.
In the afternoons when children will help it is essentially the family business. We decided that we wanted to visit a village and in February 2008 on a trip to Calcutta managed to persuade one of our suppliers to accompany us on a trip to visit an outlying village.
The truth is that the villages of India are a massive collective cottage industry, it is supremely organised with agents representing villages or groups and ferrying materials in and finished goods back. Each area of the country has its own special skills handed down the generations. What did they make? The ethnic skirt you are wearing, the shirt, jute bag, those wooden toys, and the beads in your fashion jewellery - all made in the villages of India.
Fact-finding of course, but also the overall work finds its way to the villages. This discovery disturbed us as I sensed that exploitation might be endemic in the cottage industry culture so I was determined to see and feel for myself. We stopped the car at a tea shack and the second we alighted from the air-conditioned taxi we saw scores of small children running, but surprisingly they didn't beg or try to sell us things they just came to smile and stare unabashed at the rare white faces in their village.
I walked my man in Calcutta to whom this was also an adventure and cut the guy in the shack. It would be fair to say that the shack in my garden is smarter and better constructed. We stayed in the street for about twenty minutes sipping sweet tea. We saw no signs of children at work, instead a lot of laughing and skipping seemed to be served.
Shortly we came to the village, on each side of the path sat miserable looking tin-roofed shacks but out of these shacks graduation with honours craftsmen plied their trade. I saw a man and wife of some 60 years. I asked if they had children, the man told me two but they were now in the city. We watched them for a while. These old people had been working at the village updated fibreglass reinforced bamboo poles business since when they left the city for a more peaceful life. The workshop next door was run by a family making bamboo joints (with several generations involved including one child).
The current creation – a real family business (with several generations involved including one child) I saw children. The huts had many craft skills but besides us, quieted and passed uncertain down the generations. We discovered that the children attended a morning school a mile or so back up the road but what struck me the most, was that absolutely everyone had Hollywood smiles - perfect sets of gleaming white teeth.
This is only one village in a million, although we did see other fishing villages in the sunderbans similar but its certainly not the third world poverty I had expected. If anything the style of life we glimpsed here seems to be a peaceful kind of abode. The one thing that everyone tells you about village people is that they are good people, they are honest people and they are hard working people.
3. Fair Trade
We spend up to six months a year travelling; in India, Indonesia, Nepal and China seeking out new product ideas and trying to fulfil our customers wish lists.
We visit suppliers not only to do deals but also to see for ourselves how well staff and subcontractors are treated. We have on more than one occasion had to cancel orders because it seemed staff were being exploited.
The way it works in India is that goods for export are priced higher than goods for domestic sale in India - which means that exporting companies should be able to provide better conditions and pay for their staff (and a better quality product).
We are happy to work within this system provided that we can see the benefits. This is our version of Fair Trade.
Be aware that some importers will work outside this system buying on for the domestic market but exporting, in order to boost profits or compete unfairly with other importers.
4. Ecological, Sustainable and Recyclable products
We have a wide range of products, so it would be impossible to have only organic and recycled products, but we always give more value to these when it comes to introducing new products.
We always seek, as a minimum, that raw materials are sustainable.
A note about the AW Freedom Foundation
The idea is to give a small portion of each item sold from here, directly back to the workers who make that same product. For example top of the list is a package of incense in exchange for helping a child back in school. It does not cost a great deal to help, but we feel it is important for a company such as Ancient Wisdom to give back some of the rewards of our trading to the primary producers.
Thank you for answering this request and my loyalty and ordering products from the Rareskm Foundation.
David
Director of AW
