Safia Minney

Safia Minney MBE FRSA (born 1964) is a British social entrepreneur and author. She was the founder of Global Village which she set up in 1991, and the founder and former Global CEO of 24 years of People Tree, a pioneering sustainable and Fair Trade fashion label. She is also a spokesperson and campaigner on Fair Trade and ethical fashion. She initiated World Fair Trade Day in 1999, which is endorsed by the World Fair Trade Organization and their members and celebrated on the second Saturday of May each year.

As an author, she wrote the books Naked Fashion: the New Sustainable Fashion Revolution, Slow Fashion, Aesthetics Meets Ethics, Slave to Fashion and Regenerative Fashion.

Career

Early work

Minney started her career in marketing and publishing. She worked for Creative Review magazine for four years and created her own social marketing consultancy working with magazine New Statesman and environmental organization Friends of the Earth. In 1990, Minney moved to Tokyo with her husband where she learnt Japanese before working for a publishing company, Amnesty International, and the Body Shop.

Global Village

In 1991, Minney founded Global Village, a non-governmental trading organization in Japan. She began working with two students from Yokohama University, initially publishing a free leaflet that provided consumers with environmental and organic information and listings, and later also selling fair trade products.

People Tree

In 1995 Fair Trade Company was formed as a limited company in Japan by transferring the fair trading activity of Global Village. A shop was opened in the Jiyugaoka district of Tokyo and in 1996 the business became a member of the World Fair Trade Organization. In 2000 People Tree was launched by Fair Trade Company in London to establish fair trade fashion in Europe.

In 2014 People Tree became the first company to be awarded the World Fair Trade Organisation Fair Trade product label with an international sales turnover of £8m. WFTO labelling is intended to guarantees People Tree's compliance to the Principles of Fair Trade, covering fair wages, working conditions, transparency, capacity building, environmental best practice, gender equality and setting standards for conventional fashion companies to improve their supply chains. People Tree launched the first clothing range to meet the Global Organic Textile Standard certified by the Soil Association in the developing world.

During her time at People Tree, Minney worked with many designers, celebrities and influencers, including Emma Watson, Dame Zandra Rhodes, and Bora Aksu.

Exit from People Tree and Fashion Declares

Minney left People Tree as Global CEO at the end of 2015 after separating from her husband James Minney, who was Chief Financial Officer. Following her departure from People tree she spent some time as Managing Director of ethical Shoe brand Pozu. In 2019 she started a Community Interest Company called Real Sustainability that "aims to support citizens and organisational leaders to transition to carbon zero and sustainability".

In 2022 she launched Fashion Declares, a grassroots campaign to encourage people at all levels within the fashion industry to tackle the current "climate, ecological and social emergency" associated with climate change.

Personal life

Minney was born in Britain in 1964 to a Swiss mother and Indo-Mauritian father.

Awards Selected as one of the world's most "Outstanding Social Entrepreneurs" by the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, World Economic Forum, 2005 Social Entrepreneur of the Year in the Edge Upstart Awards in Britain, 2006 Finalist in the Triodos Bank Women in Ethical Business Awards, 2008 The Observer Ethical Awards – Fashion, 2009 MBE for services to the Fashion industry and Fair Trade industry, 2009 High Street Fashion Week Awards – Eco Warrior Award, 2010 WGSN Global Fashion Awards – Most Sustainable Brand, 2010 People Tree Highly Commended in the Sustainable Fashion category at London Sustainable City Awards, 2012 Ranked #9 in UK100 Corporate Modern Slavery Influencers' Index, 2018 Woman's Hour Top 30 Women in Sustainability, 2020 P.E.A. Awards, Green Pioneer, 2021