Fabrics are on their way to Nepal

Monator, the guys who are creating our website, are doing a great job. What they have showed us so far looks great and we are really excited to see the final result.

Our logo is finished and I am currently working on a newsletter in which we will present it. So if you've not signed up for the newsletter yet, send an e-mail to info[a]thefairtailor.com.

I have been back in Sweden for almost two weeks now and I have not been able to lose the cold I caught in Nepal yet. It's starting to take its toll on me, so I'm trying to slow down a bit.

Right now we are working on improving our budget and business plan. Since all of Nepal is closed for Dashain celebrations until October 2, nothing happens in the production house right now. But the fabrics are on their way from India. The organic cotton fabrics have been dyed outside Ahmedabad, Gujarat, in the north west of India. The egyptian cotton fabrics are beeing collected from storage and packed for shipment to Nepal.

It's going to be really exciting to get all the fabrics to Nepal so that we can start making the tailor made shirts.

Sebastian Stjern

THE FAIR TAILOR
-Dress Responsibly

Tailor made Fair Trade and ecological fine dress shirts via Internet

We are hiring! Please let people know

We are planning to hire a quality controller in Kathmandu, Nepal and an ad will be posted in some local newspapers.

Please forward this ad to anyone you know who might know someone who might know someone in Nepal. Use Twitter, Facecbook, your blog, Reddit, Linkedin and any other way you can find to promote this.

Wanted a Quality Controller (QC) for textiles product based company

About The Company
The Fair Tailor is a company located in Gothenburg in Sweden. We sell Fair Trade and organic tailor made shirts and other textiles such as towels and pillowcases. We work together with the organisation Child Watabaran in Nepal, which gives all profit from its production house to social projects. Child Watabaran runs a school for street children, a child home and medical services for street children. We are convinced that it's possible to combine a successful business enterprise with social responsibility.

About the work
We are looking for someone who can work for us at the production house of Child Watabaran. You will be the link between The Fair Tailor and Child Watabaran. You will be in charge of quality inspections and you make sure that everything is up to our quality standard. You will also help us keep track on stock levels and shipping statuses.

Desired Qualities of Quality Controller
Honesty is an absolute requirement for us and besides, you have:

· At least 5 years of experience working as Quality Controller in exclusive tailoring and export based garment and a knowledge and understanding of the quality expected by our European customers.

· Knowledge of quality related to fabric types, accessories, production process and process of quality check

· Excellent command of both written and spoken English and Nepali.
Computer proficiency in several Windows-based applications, such as Word Processing, Internet browser as well as experience of using a digital camera.Excellent knowledge of using internet and computer savvy people gets priority.

· The ability to work independently and as part of a team and that you can perform under pressure.

Women and candidates from underprivileged castes and ethnic groups are highly encouraged to apply. Interested candidates are solicited to send their complete application with CV, two referees and a recent passport size photograph.

Only short-listed candidates will be called for interview.

Apply before August 29 2009 with CV, name and address of two referees, recent photo and expected salary.
Send your application to info@thefairtailor.com and tirtha@watabaran.com

Sebastian Stjern
THE FAIR TAILOR
-Dress Responsibly

Tailor made Fair Trade and ecological fine dress shirts via Internet

Life as a (local) celebrity

Yesterday I was interviewed by a local newspaper, Bohusläningen and today is the start of my new life as a local celebrity.
I have yet to discover all the perks and fringes associated with my newly won fame, but I did get a text message from my mother saying that she had read the article.

I spent a large part of last night trying to decide which netbook PC to buy. Since I will work both here and at IQube in the future, I need a fairly portable computer. I think I will go for a Samsung NC10, but the runner up, HP 2140, also looks good.

I am also trying to find organic fabrics, but that seems to be quite a challenge. If you buy from a producer the minimum quantity you need to buy is 1000kg/colour and quality. 1000kg makes a lot of shirts...

Organic cotton

Today has been a good day, I started of by meeting some interesting people together with Tirtha.
First we went to the Garment Producers Association. They gave us contact information to a lot of fabric producers and fabric importers. Tirtha will try and get in contact with most of them over the next couple days.
One of the persons the Garment Producers Association told us about sounded so interesting that we decided to go straight to his production facility. He is maybe the only importer of organic cotton to Nepal and he uses it to make fabrics. That means that it is possible to get a hold of organic cotton fabrics in Nepal. Now we just need to make sure the quality is good enough. I'm not sure that we can get the best quality fabric if we want to use ecological cotton, but we are thinking of having organic fabric as one of the options. It was good to at least see that organic fabrics are available, and maybe possible to produce in better quality.

After the meetings with Tirtha I met with WebSearch Pro, an website producer runt by Bjorn Soderberg. Websearch is one of the companies we are discussing with to make our website. It was interesting to see their facilities.

Tomorrow I'm meeting with the Consul General of Sweden to get their point of view on the political situation here in Nepal and maybe some tips on what to think of when doing business here.

A slow day in Kathmandu

Today has been a rather slow day here in Kathmandu. The pollutions combined with a cold I've caught makes me feel a bit ill.

I spoke to Tirtha earlier and he is working on setting up meetings with fabric supplier. It seems difficult to find organically grown cotton fabrics here in Nepal, but he's working on it.

I have set up a meeting for tomorrow with Fair Trade Group Nepal to learn more about how Fair Trade is done here. On Tuesday I'm meeting with WebSearch, the internet company Bjorn Soderberg has started here in Nepal.