Three French women with a passion for India founded an eco-friendly fair-trade fashion house just over a year ago. “Les Fées de Bengale”, the Bengal fairies, is a Franco-Indian organisation run entirely by women, for women.

After a life-changing visit to India, Sophie Dupuy, 30, was determined to establish lasting ties with the country. She joined forces with Camille Dupuy, 28, and Élodie Lederf, 25, and together they launched the “Les Fées de Bengale” brand on May 30th, 2006.

Now manager and marketing director, Ms Dupuy described the genesis, ethos and structure of the organisation in a telephone interview on Tuesday evening.

Ms Dupuy travelled to India in September 2005. She visited Mumbai and the southern states. “I immediately fell in love with India," she said. “I was fascinated by the country and the people I met there, and at the same time I was deeply troubled and upset by the inequalities in Indian society.” Shocked and moved by what she saw, Ms Dupuy felt compelled to take action. From the start she was determined to get involved only in a sustainable project that was respectful of the environment and the local communities.

Back in France, Ms Dupuy discussed her ideas with her sister Camille, a graphic artist, and their friend Élodie, a stylist. They agreed to create a designer brand and fashion house that would sell women’s collections in Europe. The clothes would be made from organic cotton, and spun, woven, cut and embroidered in India. All employees would be paid fair wages and under no circumstances would they make use of child labour, which, Ms Dupuy said, is unfortunately still relatively common in India.

Carrying the blueprint for their green fair-trade fashion enterprise, the three French fairies returned to India in search of partners who shared their social and environmental values. They found an organic cotton farm in the central state of Maharastra and two socially oriented cooperatives, one in the southern state of Kerala and another in Mumbai. It proved more difficult to secure the necessary financial loans and backing.

“We were told we would never succeed,” said Ms Dupuy. “Banks usually don’t finance nascent fashion ventures, and we were told we would never find funding.” But the three women refused to concede defeat. They persisted and, with the guidance of a regional French government scheme devoted to helping small businesses get started, they procured finances from a bank and inaugurated their fashion house, with its headquarters in the Parisian suburb of “Suresnes”, in May 2006.

Ms Dupuy explained the production processes behind the fairy fashion.

The organic cotton cultivated in Maharastra is sent to the first cooperative in Kerala where it is spun into thread and then woven into fabric. The spinners and weavers are women from the area, as are the staff and managers, all of who receive fair remuneration for their work. In addition, the cooperative promotes women’s rights through education initiatives, and sponsors projects aimed at improving the plight of women in the region. One of the projects raises funds for a local hospital that specialises in cancer treatment, which is sorely needed given the high incidence of the disease in the a due to the intensive use of pesticides on farmlands.

The cotton fabric is dispatched to the second cooperative, located in the northern slums of Mumbai and run by the NGO “Creative Handicrafts." Destitute women are employed, giving them a livelihood and a sense of responsibility. They work to cut, sew, assemble and embroider the clothes designed by Ms Lederf. They also have access to the various programmes offered by the cooperative, which are designed to encourage self-empowerment and independence, and they can make use of the health and nursery school services on site.

Every six months, Ms Lederf travels to Mumbai to advise the seamstresses on the latest collection. “In September we will be presenting our winter collection in Paris to the industry professionals,” said Ms Dupuy. “That will be our fourth collection.” As it gains exposure, "Les Fées de Bengale" is expanding. Individual items are sold in a number of boutiques in Paris, in other French cities, and now in Belgium, Switzerland, Greece and Canada. The full collection is available for purchase from the online boutique.

“80% of our production is sold to boutiques and only 20% to specialised fair-trade shops,” Ms Dupuy was keen to emphasize. "We reach a clientele that is not necessarily sensitized to or even aware of fair-trade fashion. We want to dispel the myth that only casual alternative clothing issues from fair trade."

May the French and Indian fairies spin their magic to help bring organic fair-trade chic to the height of fashion.

Les Fées de Bengale