How many of the nation’s printers are healthy enough to offer every worker an extra 10 weeks’ pay? Customers have a smile on their faces too. A 6,000-shopper survey of the UK’s favourite retailers gave the group a podium finish, with John Lewis and Waitrose taking first and second places.

In London’s trendy East End, one firm has been proving that the model can also mean success for print. The co-op approach in Calverts’ printroom differs from the retail examples, but the values remain – a democratic approach to making decisions has existed since its inception.

A glimpse of Calverts’ humble beginnings can be found in its meeting room, where one wall is adorned with its original branding, a small hand-painted sign that would look at home on a fencepost in a community garden. A sample book in the opposite corner brims with examples of the vibrant in-house design work the firm produces today.

While three decades have seen many changes for the firm, the co-operative model remains on track. “Nothing has changed in that respect,” says sales director Arthur Sitt. “It’s still one member one vote.”

The firm’s 16 staff meet weekly and monthly to discuss company issues. “Hopefully, we can reach consensus on any ideas,” says Sitt. If not, a three-quarters majority will see a vote through.

The risk of being weighed down in bureaucracy is offset by the loyalty the firm engenders. “The average staff turnover for people at Calverts is 10 years,” he says. By giving staff input into the business, Sitt believes they get more back than just a paycheque for the daily grind. In fact, Sitt took a wage cut to move to Calverts.

It’s all well and good to hold on to workers, but it is clients that pay the bills. Sitt believes the firm’s approach also makes for a faithful client base. “We’re quite small and don’t have a wide range of customers, so we like to keep as tight as possible with the ones we have.”

That’s made easier by focusing on customers that echo Calverts’ approach. Sitt says the firm does a lot of print and design for “people who we’re a good fit with and they with us”. It helps that Calverts creates work that resonates with ethical and environmental buyers. For instance, it recently diverted used yoghurt pots from landfill by turning them into signage for a London community farm’s trucks. It also transforms used makeready sheets with French folds to produce unstitched booklets, which caught the attention of environmental design agency Thomas Matthews.

The client list reads like a who’s who of ethical and environmental businesses. One in particular, the Fairtrade Foundation, resonates with the printer. “You’re working with other co-ops in developing countries,” says Sitt. The work ticks the right boxes in terms of an aware, charitable customer, but is not without its own set of problems. “One dilemma we came across was when we ordered some fair-trade bags to print on,” he says.

“We got them in from India, but the environmental impact would have been less if we had sourced them here. It’s a case of the ethical and environmental pushing against each other.”

The firm also has to strike a balance between the needs of customers, Calverts’ co-operative values and the imperative to turn a profit.

“We’re very aware that if we don’t make a profit, we don’t pay wages, so we’re very focused on the bottom line,” says Sitt. “But to some extent, we’re protected by the kind of customers we work with: local authorities, charities and campaigning groups. Their funding may run out, but they tend not to go to the wall.”

Over the firm’s 31 years, public awareness of workers’ rights and green issues have surged into the mainstream. So has Calverts changed its focus?

Sitt says: “Before green issues were raised, we were considered hippies. And that kind of mindset has completely changed. Rather than us having changed, outside perception of those issues has changed.”

---

CALVERTS AT A GLANCE

Established 1977
Located Bethnal Green, London
Staff 16
Turnover £1.4m
Clients Fairtrade Foundation, Unicef, British Council, Co-operative Group, Greater London Authority