Organic-Ally

The last time I walked past the local Primark with my son he spotted from the outside "organic cotton T-shirt £4". I was incredulous. Here we are, organic cotton retailers struggling to procure certified organic cotton because the big players now want a piece of the cake and are coming in with their huge buying power, and we see organic cotton T-shirts at £4 at Primark. How do they do that? How much do they (not) pay their workers to be able to afford to sell at those prices? Today I walked past that shop again (as my local sub-post office had been forced to close I now have to take my parcels to the main office) and saw the same sign again. I meant to go in to examine the label, but somehow couldn't bring myself to do so. Maybe on the next trip. What would Mary Portas say? Been watching her series on turning retail fashion boutiques around. How can I run a business without knowing my competition? Here's what she has to say about Primark ( Independent , 12th July 200...

Having been nudged by a customer onto Facebook -- I like to claim that I try to meet customer demand -- I had been dipping into FB gingerly being very careful about being sucked right in. You know what I mean? It can get very addictive. But FB can also be a bit scary. Like every time I log in (which is not often) I get on the left-hand side an advert that usually headlines with "45-49?" followed by small print -- which I am still able to read without my reading glasses, thank you -- about manufacturers requiring people of that age group to test various products. Of course a vehicle like FB requires advertising for all these fun and games to be provided 'free'. Ah, there really is no such thing as a free lunch. I really hate to think that someone has gathered so many of my details as to know what kinds of food I eat so that they could 'target' their marketing at me. This morning we received junk mail sent to my eight-year-old son. He managed to fill in some det...