Corporate Responsibility and Culture

Our Ethical Heritage

Monsoon started life in the 1970s when founder Peter Simon travelled overland to India, via Afghanistan, falling in love with the beautiful hand crafted clothes he discovered en route. The first Monsoon store opened in Beauchamp Place, London in 1973.

Peter Simon believed passionately that "small is beautiful", choosing to buy from local producer groups, often based in Indian villages in Rajasthan.

Clothes were made using traditional handicrafts, such as hand block printing and vegetables dyes that developed their colour in the natural sunlight. Yellows came from pomegranates and deep blues from indigo plants.

Today we have over 800 Monsoon and Accessorize branches globally. While much of our production has shifted to larger factories, we remain true to our roots. Indeed, we still trade with some of our original suppliers and these relationships have helped generate jobs and develop local communities.

Yet poverty remains endemic in many parts of India and Asia and the world faces increasing environmental challenges, not least that of climate change. We are committed to playing our part through:

The Monsoon Accessorize Trust – a registered charity that funds education, healthcare and income generation projects for disadvantaged women and children in Asia.

Ethical Trading – we ask all suppliers to commit to minimum standards of pay and working conditions across our whole supply chain.

A FAIRTRADE Certified Cotton Range – sourced from small-scale, disadvantaged farmers, ensuring a better deal for local communities.

Our environmental policy – focusing on reducing our carbon footprint across the business.

We also support emerging artists through the Monsoon Art Collection, with a focus on works that reference both indigenous culture and globalisation.

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