International Resources for Fairer Trade

International Resources for Fairer Trade (IRFT) is a non-profit organisation that works to promote fair and sustainable livelihoods for small and marginalised producers and consumers in India and abroad. IRFT was established in 1995 by Kirit Dave and Jan Simmonds, with the vision of ensuring social compliance standards within all supply chains. IRFT has been partnering with various stakeholders, such as farmers, artisans, NGOs, corporates, retailers, and consumers, to create opportunities, build capacities, raise awareness, and ensure transparency and accountability in the market economy. IRFT also conducts ethical audits, provides code of conduct trainings, and verifies the implementation of remediation and continuous improvement measures in factories and farms that represent the producers. Some of the leading brands that IRFT has worked with are Levi Strauss, Nike, Marks and Spencer, Reebok, and Burberry.

IRFT's mission is to empower farmers, artisans, companies, and NGOs to develop business capacity and promote sustainable livelihoods for all of those involved in producing the goods we consume every day. IRFT follows the fair trade principles of creating opportunities for economically disadvantaged producers, paying a fair price, ensuring gender equity, providing safe and healthy working conditions, and encouraging better environmental practices and responsible methods of production. IRFT also maintains and develops long-term trade relations with its partners, based on mutual respect and trust.

IRFT's sustainability standards are based on the internationally recognised frameworks of Social Accountability International (SAI), Fairtrade International (FLO), Better Cotton Initiative (BCI), and Fair Labor Association (FLA). IRFT also participates in the Pro-Sustain project, an initiative by Hivos, IRFT, Fair Trade Forum-India, and Shop For Change, to contribute to building environmentally sustainable production and consumption that helps reduce poverty amongst poor farmers and handicraft producers in India. The specific objective of the Pro-Sustain project is to create a consumer market for fair trade products in India that measurably contributes to the improvement of rural livelihoods and provides farmers and artisans with the resources necessary to follow environmentally sustainable production practices.