Our supplier's policies

Lanka Kade

Leela

Lanka Kade

Lanka Kade translates as 'the Sri Lankan shop' and was set up in 1994 by husband and wife team Upul and Diane, with the aim of providing an outlet for items produced by small craft enterprises in Sri Lanka. As time went on Lanka Kade developed a product range of educational toys and gifts for young children utilising Diane's teaching and playwork background.

Their joint experiences of living and working in Sri Lanka made them determined to operate Lanka Kade with a fair trade approach.

The ethical side
All Lanka Kade's products are handmade by seven family based enterprises with whom they have long term working commitments. New products are designed in the UK for each supplier to utilise their individual knowledge and skills. Their aim is to provide continual employment throughout the year for each supplier, their families and their employees. A representative is employed full time in Sri Lanka to coordinate shipments, liase with the UK on behalf of their suppliers and to arrange prompt payment for all goods supplied to Lanka Kade.

Each business is independent and supplies direct to Lanka Kade. Lanka Kade does not use middlemen, nor does it pay commissions thus enabling the suppliers to receive a fair and full price for their products. Regular contact is maintained with all their suppliers by phone, fax, email and onsite visits throughout the year both direct from UK and weekly by Lanka Kade's Sri Lankan co-ordinator. They work closely together to maintain, improve, and update each supplier’s working practice and understanding of fair trade. Lanka Kade is currently assisting three of their suppliers with long term interest free loans used for the development of their business.

The environmental side
Many of Lanka Kade's products are made from rubberwood sourced from exhausted rubber plantations that are replanted every 10 – 15 years. They prefer to use recycled products when available – the majority of their outer packing cartons are already once used and the packing materials are either shredded paper or materials supplied by local retail outlets from their own deliveries. Lanka Kade products and packaging are all PVC free and they strive to avoid the use of excessive packaging.

Leela

Leela has formed a partnership with Maya Organic, a not-for-profit organisation which was established originally to eradicate child-labour in this part of Karnataka, India. Its success towards achieving this is remarkable and they have achieved it by providing livelihoods for the parents ie making the Moogli toys, garments etc. So it follows that no children have been or will be employed to make these products.

The products

NATURAL- no plastic, no toxins, no paint, no chemicals - there is nothing used but sustainable hale and rubber woods, shellac and vegetable dyes to produce these toys and gifts, all tested to EU standards by us

COLOURS- the colours are rich, earthy, just beautiful - will look as just as good on your shelves as in the toy box

LEARNING BENEFITS- the toys have all been designed for skills-development -and take that a step further.

CHILDREN- no children are involved in producing any of the products - in fact, our partners in India ensure that not only do the children in these villages not work, but that they are in full-time education

The ethical side
Maya’s well-thought-out approach ensures that the workers in the different collectives are committed to continuous improvements, decent working environments, fair distribution of profits cutting out “middle-men”, schemes to put aside money into health and social security as well as savings schemes thus helping them to plan and structure their lives more effectively - this approach often goes beyond achieving global compliance standards like fair trade. These collectives have rescued what was a dying lac-ware industry and with Leela’s commitment to marketing the products in Europe, we are certain that the collectives will continue to grow and prosper - they certainly deserve to and with your help we will make this happen.

Leela have visited all the collectives and have been very impressed by the professionalism and hard working team efforts in evidence.

The enviromental side
The products are packaged in recycled cardboard and printing is done by another collective in the Maya structure. The wood used for the products is either sustainable hale wood or rubberwood.