The 20-year-old, who plays Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter movies, visited Bangladesh recently to see the difference the company has made.

Purple Tree supports 50 Fair Trade groups in 15 developing countries around the world, including Bangladesh, India, Kenya and Peru. The company backs projects including Swallows – a women’s centre in Thanapara, which offers work to as many women as possible, enabling them to support their families and build a healthy community.

Emma, who visited Swallows on her trip to Bangladesh, said: “I cannot imagine how I’d have the mental ability and strength to go into the garment factories in the slums everyday and to have my children living 600 miles away.

“We spoke to one woman in a slum in Dhaka. She was very candid about the fact that there just wasn’t any hope for her. There is no hope for anyone living in those conditions and being paid that kind of wage. Coming to Swallows I see that there is an alternative.

“The living conditions are modest but it’s clean and there is a real sense of community, their families are together and they seem to love and be proud of what they are doing – many things that we in the West take for granted. Swallows is special and I need to believe for my own peace of mind that there will be more places like this in the developing countries in the world.”

Emma hopes that by throwing her weight behind People Tree’s work, she will encourage shoppers back in the UK to buy clothes which feature the FAIRTRADE Mark. A number of top retailers already sell clothes made from Fairtrade cotton, including Topshop, Warehouse, Monsoon, Asos.com and Tesco.

“I don’t know how to impress upon people the importance of Fair Trade,” Emma, who is also the face of Burberry, said. “It’s so hard to get people to care and to realise what a huge difference Fair Trade can make to someone’s life.

“If people have the choice to buy Fair Trade or non Fair Trade, they should buy the Fair Trade item. It really does make all the difference – the contrast between Swallows and the slums in Dhaka is testimony to that.”

Click here to read People’s Tree’s full interview with Emma Watson.

• Bristol fashion designer Charlie Harrison has just launched her Charlie Boots fashion label, reports Creative Boom. The Charlie Boots website sells a range of evening and day wear that uses Fairtrade, reclaimed and vintage fabrics, as well as organic cotton, with each design limited to just 10 items. There’s an introduction from Charlie herself here.
• Congratulations to Vale of Glamorgan councillor Rob Curtis, who has just been named as the Green Champion in South Wales Echo’s Community Champion Awards (via WalesOnline). Rob pushed the council to become Fairtrade (among many, many other things!)
• And up in Cumbria, Egremont Fairtrade Group has just donated £400 to the Beekeepers Economic Empowerment project in the Tabora region of Tanzania (reports Whitehaven News). The project links small scale beekeepers to markets, increasing rural incomes and alleviating poverty.