Feather Touch « CONTIGO WordPress Prod

Feather Touch

1 Profile of CONTIGO´s partner Feather Touch
1.1 Supply chain
1.2 Products
1.3 Location
1.4 Founded in 2005
1.5 History
1.6 Cooperation with CONTIGO since 2010
1.7 Structure of the company
1.8 Sales
1.9 Goals
1.10 Special features
2 Fairtrade classification
3 Fairtrade aspects
3.1 No child labour
3.2 No discrimination
3.3 Fair wages
3.4 Humane working conditions
3.5 Transparency
4 Monitoring
5 Country information
6 Photos

Profile of CONTIGO´s partner Feather Touch

Supply chain

Trading Partner: Feather Touch, medium enterprise
Function: Producer
Structure: Own production plant, affiliated production groups
Tradeway: Direct import CONTIGO

Kolkata to Göttingen (Source: Google Earth)

Products

Leather products, focus on ECOfriendly leather from vegetable tanning

Goat leather, vegetable tanning

Location

Kolkata, in the state of West Bengal, India – distance to Europe: 7,300km

Founded in 2005

History

Nandeswar Prasad Chowdhury, former product development officer for EMA (Equitable Marketing Association; Kolkata´s first Fairtrade marketing organisation) found Feather Touch as a marketing organisation for different handicrafts from groups in Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal
2000: Death of founder; son Vivek Chowdhury (19 years at the time) takes over the family business
2005: Feather Touch moves to an own production site in Kolkata and specialises in leather products
2010: CONTIGO meets Feather Touch for the first time
2013: Deepening of the cooperation between CONTIGO and Feather Touch; focus on own designs and high quality
2015: Feather Touch specialises in high-quality products made of ECOfriendly cow-hide leather. Ranges with goat and buffalo leather are produced as well
2016: Development of own ECOfriendly leather varieties in cooperation with an associated tannery
2017: Start of an own, rented tannery
November 2019: Purchase of a new five stories building for packing and production, located in a nearby commercial area

Cooperation with CONTIGO since 2010

Structure of the company

Number of employees:

Internal employees / at the central workshop: 40-45 employees
- Thereof 20 employees with fixed salaries in these departments: administration, purchase, design & product development, sample making, cutting and quality control
- 7 producer groups with 20-25 employees in total, paid by piece-wage, produce bags and wallets
External / decentralised producer groups:
- 2 groups for production of wallets and small leather items
- 1 group for shanti leather: owner Zameer Ahmed, cooperation with Feather Touch since 15 years
- 1 group for spray painted leather goods
- 6-10 people in each producer group

Work environment:

Five stories building and roof top
The building disposes over generous working space, well set up office and show room facilities, a cafeteria, passenger lift and freight elevator

Organisation of work force:

Production groups with leader and team:
- Team consists of handcrafters with different skills and experiences (un-skilled, semi-skilled and skilled) for simple glueing tasks up to complex works (cutting and sewing)
Production at the central workshop:
- Entire bag production
- Production of ECOfriendly leather ranges
Production at decentralised workshops:
- Workers produce leather accessories in their own workshops in the surroundings of Kolkata
- They receive prepared material packages, as well as advance payment for operating and labour costs

Sales

Exports (100%) to Austria, UK, Germany, Italy, Australia, Netherlands

Goals

To expand the work force to 250 crafters of the new bag and wallet production site within the next years
To upgrade an own tannery to procure high quality ecoleather
To increase the number of women in production. This will be in place as soon as the new premises is set up

Special features

Special focus on environental friendly production and ecofriendly leather processing
Outstanding knowledge and expertise in all fields of the leather production process from raw hide to ready made product

Why does CONTIGO work with Feather Touch: Feather Touch is an upcoming company with focus on continuous improvements of design, quality and working conditions.

Fairtrade classification

FTA = Fairtrade Approved

Fairtrade aspects

Feather Touch complies with the following Fairtrade Principles:

No child labour

No discrimination

No discrimination due to gender, disability, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, political orientation, or infection with HIV

Many different religions work together at Feather Touch.

Fair wages

Minimum wage in the state of West Bengal: (INR = Indian rupee), for tannery and leather industry
- Un-skilled : INR 8,005/ month
- Semi-skilled: INR 8,806/ month
- Skilled: INR 9,687/ month

Employees with fixed wages:
- Wages in quality control and back work: INR 7,000 – 8,000 / month
- Wages in production (semi skilled): INR 9,500 -12,000 / month
- Wages of specialists: INR 13,500 – 22,000 / month
- All above mentioned wages are minimum and increase depending on order situation (bonus, overtime)
- Monthly remittanceto personal bank accounts
Staff in production groups (at the central workshop as well as at decentralised workshops) receive piece-rated wages:
- Minimum wage: INR 8,000/ month
- Team leader receives INR 15,000/ month
- Income depends on order situation and attendance time of worker
- Predominantely cash payment

Wages are 10% higher than paid for comparable jobs in the region
Salary increment every year (due to inflation)
Higher wages in case of overtime on Sundays and bank holidays
Bonus payment for salaried staff (1 monthly salary)
Bonus payment for group leaders and good performing staff in the production group (50% of monthly salary)

Humane working conditions

Working hours:

8 hours/day (Saturday 10:30am-7:00pm)
30 minutes break
6 days/week

Social benefits:

For all salaried employees:

Paid festival holidays (17 days per year)
Continued payment of wage in case of sickness or accident (12 days)
Recreation holidays (4 days)
Payment of contributions to health insurance ESI (=Employee State Insurance): employer pays 3,75%, employee pays 0,75% of monthly wage
Payment of contributions to pension scheme PF (=Employees´ Provident Fund), employer and employee pay each 12 % of monthly wage (less “housing allowance”)
In case of need or family reasons: interest-free loans for all employees with individual refunding
In case of overtime: Feather Touch provides food and accomodation

Occupational safety:

All safety standards are met
- Protective clothing is provided: breathing masks, protective glasses
- First aid kit is available, a training for 2 first aid officers is carried out in December 2019
- Fire license (with regular external controls, internal training)
- Two emergency exits, external staircases