El Alto | Socially Responsible Mountain Clothing

El Alto | Socially Responsible Outdoor Clothing

Sweat shop is such a well known term now and sadly is where much of the clothing on Britain's shelves come from. As long as there is a demand for rock bottom price clothing, there will always be someone who will choose to meet that demand. What we aim to do is to show that it doesn't need to be like that, that people can make a choice which is an ethical one but at the same time doesn't break the bank or compromise on quality.

However, any company can claim they are socially responsible, but what does that mean?

This is what it means for us:
  • We ensure that all our staff receive a fair wage. In real terms this equates to almost DOUBLE a typical wage for similar work, and FOUR TIMES the national minimum wage over there. It may still be a low wage by western standards but it certainly goes a long way to improving the livelihoods of our staff
  • Working conditions are good. Staff work reasonable hours in comfortable surroundings
  • The factories in Bolivia are wholly owned by Bolivians. This means that, as the company grows, the benefits will be spread evenly across the board, not just here in the UK
  • 1% of all El Alto's sales go towards Bolivian social and environmental projects. See our partners to learn more about the projects we support
  • A further 1% of sales go towards the international network:
    One Percent for the Planet

This is just for starters. We do not believe that there is an "acceptable" level of social responsibility, all companies can (and should) do better than they already do. We also recognise that there is a lot more that we should be doing. We are a young company though and will work continually to improve on the above list, making every item you buy a greater help for the less advantaged areas of our planet.