Fairest of all
When Darren Curnoe took redundancy from UNSW last year, he knew where he wanted to channel his energies, post academia. The anthropologist and his partner, Asha Manocha, had been selling ethical and fair trade products from an outlet in Lane Cove, and the couple decided to move things closer to their Woollahra home. This year, they opened Ethical by Nature on Oxford St, a store dedicated to selling fair-trade, sustainable and ethical products from around the world.
“We have had a wonderfully positive reception,” says Curnoe. “People in Paddington are very outward looking, they have travelled, they think about the world and are very socially minded.”
The couple works with a range of not-for-profit and cultural organisations, particularly in Asia, to bring high-quality, artisan products to Sydney. The profits go directly to the producers and makers and every product is certified for its ethical background.
“We are a genuinely ethical shop. A lot of shops claim to have ethical products without having any clear evidence for that. But in our case, fair trade is at the core of our business,” Curnoe says.
Ethical by Nature retails a wide range of global products including fashion, children’s clothing, homewares, coffee, tea, chocolate and gifts. The couple has spent considerable time sourcing some well-known ethical brands including Dr Bronner’s cosmetics and creams, and Tony’s Chocolonely chocolate. And if all that doesn't sound laudable enough, the couple plants a tree for every purchase.
“These go to different reforestation projects around the world,” Curnoe says. “We just bought 50 trees for a reforestation project in India for tigers.”
Ethical by Nature
416 Oxford St