trading policy

I have listed below a number of our aims and some of the expectations that we have of our suppliers in India, Nepal, Thailand, Columbia, Philippines, Egypt, China and Vietnam.

Wages & Social Welfare

Although fair and difficult wages are difficult to quantify Ian Snow Ltd expects all producers and suppliers to constantly improve wages on a yearly basis.

We will not tolerate injustice or exploitation of artisans or producers involved in the production of any goods which have been ordered by the company.

We require all producers and suppliers to supply goods without the use of child labour. We would expect that all companies would have a policy which prevented any worker of school age being employed by them.

We believe that all workers should have a right of free association.

We require that all those employed by a producer or supplier should not work long hours which may not be consistent with their well being.

We require that there is no discrimination against women and that a women doing the same work as a man will be paid the same wage levels as a man. It is understood that differentials in pay are based on differing skills and experience.

We would like to encourage all suppliers and producers to help look after the social needs of craftspeople and wherever possible contribute to medical, educational and other social welfare measures for them and their families.

We would wherever possible like to see the introduction of training programmes in skills development, literacy programmes, design input and quality control etc for all crafts people.

Environmental Issues

We expect all producers and suppliers to adopt environmental practices which reduce harm to the environment. In this regard we expect the minimum of packaging to be used except where necessary to prevent damage during transport. We encourage the use of recycled materials wherever possible in packaging and the manufacture of products. We do not want PVC to be used at any time.

We expect that producers and suppliers of wooden items should provide information about the type of wood used and whether schemes are in place to prevent widespread deforestation of the particular tree type.

We are committed to preventing the use of chemical dyes that may be harmful to the environment and anyone who is involved in the manufacture or its subsequent use. We require all textile products to be made with the use of azo free dyes.

We expect all producers and suppliers to have controls as to the disposal of effluent/liquid waste. If they do not have controls in place at present that they must move to put controls in place in the near future.

We expect all producers and suppliers to control emissions to air.

We expect that all producers and suppliers have given adequate safety training to all workers and to ensure that all equipment used by workers is safe and adequate for the job.

Labelling

We require all textile products to be accurately labeled with fibre content in percentage terms.

We require the wash /care instructions to be clearly labeled on all textile products.

Product Safety

We require that all products are safe for use and where necessary warning labels are put on any item where there maybe a safety issue along with Ian Snow Ltd's postcode.

We will do everything possible to help promote, distribute products which are made in compliance of the above conditions. It is expected that producers and projects will provide as much information as possible regarding materials used, dyes if appropriate and details of how products are made. Where dyes are used it is expected that there will be a minimum of bleeding of the dyes during washing i.e. dyes must be fast.