Bishopston Trading Company is a fair trade company whose sole aim is to provide employment for the people of K.V.Kuppam with whom we have been working in partnership since 1985.
We use Fairtrade certified organic cotton and are members of the World Fair Trade Organisation.

In 1978 a group of residents of Bishopston in Bristol twinned their community with the South Indian village of K.V.Kuppam.
Their intention was to promote friendship and mutual understanding between two very different parts of the world.
Several years later, Carolyn Whitwell, the group�s secretary received a letter from a village leader in K.V.Kuppam which moved her profoundly: the letter thanked the twinning committee for all their support, but made the simple assertion that as skilled craftspeople the villagers wanted work not charity.

With this in mind Carolyn set up the Bishopston Trading Company as a means of providing employment for the village of K.V.Kuppam by utilising the traditional handloom weaving that was one of the major crafts of the area.

In essence the company is a trading partnership: Bishopston provides the design and marketing skills and the capital investment in the form of forward payments, and K.V.Kuppam provide the weaving and tailoring skills. From small beginnings, when six people were employed in the Tailoring Units in K.V.Kuppam, the company has grown to provide employment to almost 200 tailors, cutters, hand-finishers, embroiderers and craft workers. A further 90 people are employed as handloom weavers who produce the beautiful handloom Fairtrade certified organic cotton cloth that is used to make clothes, toys, bags, bedding and much more.

The company now has four shops in the Southwest of England (Bradford on Avon, Glastonbury, Totnes and Bishopston Bristol), as well as an online and catalogue mail order business and a wholesale department.

The mission statement of the company is:

The price we pay per garment ensures the members of the K.V.Kuppam Tailoring Societies receive above average wages, secure employment, a health care allowance, provident fund, gratuity and an on site cr�che for their young children.

All profits generated by the business which are not used to grow the business and generate further employment in K.V.Kuppam are donated to our charity, The South Indian Rural Development Trust, which supports social development projects in the area. In 2006 architect designed model tailoring units were opened on the outskirts of the village to ensure the workers have a spacious, cool, light and comfortable environment to work in. These buildings were funded through the company�s profits which were channelled into the Trust over a number of years.

The Trust has a guest house within the grounds of the Tailoring Units where visitors are welcome to stay.