 OUR STORY
Founded on a passion for improving the lives of Andean producers and their communities, Pachacuti is committed to creating a successful, contemporary fashion and accessories business built on the foundation of fair trade. Pachacuti means world upside-down in the Quechua language and describes our endeavour to redress the inequalities in the global fashion industry through demonstrating that it is possible to run a successful clothing business which benefits the producers and is environmentally sustainable.
A pioneer in fair trade fashion, Carry Somers established Pachacuti in 1992 after completing an MA in Native American Studies. On a research trip to Ecuador she was shocked by the inequitable trading patterns where intermediaries made all the profits. After hearing how two co-operatives had experienced intimidation and arson due to the threat they posed to powerful middlemen who controlled the wool trade she gave them the financial resources to buy raw materials in bulk and, with no background in design, produced a series of knitwear patterns based on cave art in the region which proved so popular that they sold out in six weeks. Seeing the tangible difference this made to the producers’ livelihoods encouraged her to give up her PhD and concentrate on improving the lives of more producer groups in the Andean region.
Carry experienced an initial setback when an armed robber stole all of the profits from her first summer of trading and a further £5000 borrowed from a friend. However, she was determined to persevere and lived in a van for 9 months of the year in order to be able to save enough money to pay back the loan and continue to support her producers.
Pachacuti is now a rapidly growing business with a shop, panama hat gallery, mail order and wholesale business based in the market town of Ashbourne, Derbyshire. The wholesale side of the business began in 1992 with an order from The Conran Shop for rollable panama hats. We still supply The Conran Shop, along with over a hundred other shops and mail order catalogues in the UK, Europe, USA and Japan with clients ranging from Orvis to Glyndebourne Opera and the National Trust catalogue. We also supply hats for sporting events such as the VIPs at Wimbledon and for the officials at the Tour de France.
OUR PRODUCERS
Pachacuti shows that in a world of mass-produced clothing, people can wear individual, stylish garments which have been created by hand using traditional skills, with respect for the environment and ensuring that the producers receive a living wage. To this end, Carry designs and produces bi-annual collections of alpaca knitwear, hand-embroidered clothing, felt and panama hats. Pachacuti supports two women’s panama hat associations in Ecuador, providing the principal income for hundreds of weavers. A further 400 embroiderers, tailors, knitters and milliners from co-operatives, community groups, family groups and mother’s clubs are working for us throughout the year.
Traditional skills such as embroidery and millinery are under threat due to the rapid westernisation of indigenous dress and many artisans have lost their local market. Our designs utilise these traditional skills and are playing a significant part in preserving the rich textile heritage of the Andes. For example, three year’s ago Carry designed a range of embroidered childrenswear which was used by the Victoria and Albert Museum as an example of contemporary design influenced by the Arts and Crafts movement. Our beautiful girls’ embroidered dresses remain one of our best-selling lines and, as our range grows every year, so it brings continued benefit to the rural community of La Esperanza, which means ‘hope’ in Spanish.
Obviously fair trade means ensuring that Pachacuti´s producers receive excellent remuneration for their work, sometimes as much as double the price they would get from selling to an intermediary. However, we go much further than this by striving to improve their working conditions; empowering women through working principally with organisations of female producers; ensuring that products are sustainable through the reduction of chemicals and the use of rainforest-friendly tagua nut buttons and supporting community development in rural areas. One project which we support is the Mantay home for abandoned teenage mothers. The girls and their babies are given a home and are able to continue their education. In order to help them to escape from the circle of poverty and abuse and create a better life for their children, they are given training in skills, including leather and textile work.
Pachacuti is the UK’s only fair trade hat specialist and the website, service and quality of hat gain constant praise from customers around the world. We work with women's co-operatives in Ecuador in order to ensure that more of the money stays in the hands of the producers. The women carry out the entire production process from weaving to finishing and thus retain more of the final value of the hat. Moreover, Pachacuti assists elderly weavers through a pension scheme, finances capital expenditure such as new hat blocks and supports community development projects such as building a new grocery store, financing the work of Alcoholics Anonymous, and ensuring that poor families can afford to educate their children .
Carry is particularly concerned that there are no young weavers joining the co-operatives and fears that the panama hat industry could die out within a few decades as young people choose to migrate to urban areas for work, rather than take up hat weaving as a profession. She is hoping to change this through the establishment of an apprenticeship scheme for young weavers in the rural village of Sigsig where every year 20 young women will begin a two year training course to become panama hat weavers. By ensuring just remuneration for the weavers and training a new generation in weaving techniques, Pachacuti will help to ensure that the panama hat continues to be a fashion icon into the next century.
OUR ACHIEVEMENTS
- Shortlisted - Entrepreneur of the Year in the Women in Ethical Business Awards 2008
- Winner - Commitment to the Community Award in the Derbyshire Business Awards 2008.
- Winner - FSB British Small Business Champions Ethical Award 2007
- Winner - East Midlands Region Edge award 2007 which recognises employers who have provided outstanding learning opportunities for young people. Pachacuti has provided work placements for several fashion students from Derby University, including hands-on experience in South America.
- Winner - Country Living Enterprising Rural Women Award 2006
- Country Living editor Suzy Smith said “These awards celebrate the ingenuity and drive of women who have brought real benefit to their local communities. In Carry’s case, her business has completely changed the fortune of a number of poor rural communities in South America as well. Add to this the green credentials of her products and Carry’s company, Pachacuti, becomes the personification of everything that Country Living espouses".
In 2007 Carry was invited to Buckingham Palace on 14th February in recognition of her significant contribution to UK business. As well as talking to The Queen, the royal line-up included the Princess Royal, the Duchess of Cornwall, the Countess of Wessex and The Duchess of Gloucester. The reception was held to recognise the achievements of the UK's top 200 businesswomen who have made it to the top by their own efforts. Other guests included Jacqueline Gold, founder of Ann Summers, Cath Kidston and Sharon Osbourne.
Passion, principles and perseverance have helped Carry Somers take Pachacuti from strength to strength and has made a significant contribution to improving the lives of hundreds of artisans in the Andes of South America.
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