Julia Hawkins

Position
Media relations and communications manager, ETI (prior to leaving ETI, Feb 2012)

Julia works on raising awareness about ethical trade and developing to tools to communicate about ethical trade to retailers, suppliers and consumers.

"I do the easy bit", she says. "Getting the message across about how important ethical trade is may be challenging sometimes, but I don't have to make tough decisions on how to respond if I find my company has been sourcing from a factory using child labour, or on how to balance ethical and commercial demands in today's recession-struck times."

Blog posts from this author

Ethical trade heads for the outdoors

Ethical trade heads outdoors

As one conference participant said: "People think that because they might have to spend £200 on a Goretex jacket the industry must be swimming with money. That's just not the case. In many cases we're talking about lifestyle businesses that are operating on a survival basis."
London Fashion Week (photo via glamournerd.com)

How to get fashion buyers to 'think ethical'

For many companies - perhaps smaller ones, or those who are just starting out in ethical trade - the ideal of full integration between ethics and core business practices may seem overwhelming. Here are a few tips to get you started.