Where do our fair trade toys come from?

For all those who are interested in where our cotton crochet and knitted toys come from please find below an article about Samantha Morshed and her company. We think shes a very impressive woman!

"In the small Bangladeshi town of Narsingdi, Suria Begum sits in a small hut, a short walk from her house, with two dozen other women where she knits children's hats, mittens and blankets.

Like 2.5 million others in the impoverished country, Suria works in the textile business, making items exported to the US and Europe, but unlike most other workers she has not had to leave her rural home for a job.

"I have a five-year-old son so I can't work in Dhaka, but having this job gives my family a bit of extra money. Plus, it's nice to sit around and chat with the other workers. It's very relaxed here," the 30-year-old said.

Most of Bangladesh's 4,200 garment factories, some of which come under fire from rights groups for shabby health and safety standards, are in cities like Dhaka or Chittagong, meaning workers have to move to urban areas for work.

But British woman Samantha Morshed, who created the centre where Suria works and 31 other centres like it across Bangladesh, has a different vision for the country of 144 million people, 40 percent of whom live below the poverty line.

"I wanted to prove that it's not impossible to create employment in rural areas in Bangladesh," says Morshed, who started her business four years ago by teaching a dozen women to knit and crochet in her living room in Dhaka.

Morshed represents a growing number of businesses pushing to channel Bangladesh's cheap labour into ethical, fair trade labels.

She now employs more than 3,500 women in rural areas who make 30,000 items a month that are exported to developed countries and fashionable shops

"Bangladesh has huge potential. It's not the sad, flooded, charity-prone place it's made out to be. It's full of dignified people who want the opportunity to progress," Morshed said."