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ABOUT US

Our mission

We are part of a growing and vital movement-FAIR TRADE.  Our store provides vital, fair income to third world people by marketing their handicrafts and telling their stories in North America.  We work with artisans who would otherwise be unemployed or underemployed.  This income helps pay for food, education, health care and housing. Shopping fair trade is just one of the many ways we can all work together to make a difference!

What is Fair trade?

Fair trade, also know as alternative trade, is a different way of doing business.  It is based on economics and social justice rather than maximizing profits.  The key goals of fair trade are to empower low-income, disadvantaged artisans around the globe, and to promote understanding between them and North Americans.

 What are the principles of fair trade?

Fair trade organizations follow these principles:

Pay a fair wage in the local context, pay promptly, and often. Pay a 50% advance.

Encourage environmentally sustainable practices.

Build long-term and sustainable relationships.

Buy from artisans who provide healthy and safe working conditions for workers.

Choose handicrafts that reflect and reinforce rich cultural traditions which appeal to the North American consumer.

Provide financial and technical assistance to workers whenever possible. 

THE 10 STANDARDS OF FAIR TRADE

• Creating opportunities for economically disadvantaged producers
  Fair Trade is a strategy for poverty alleviation and sustainable development. Its purpose is to create opportunities for producers who have been economically disadvantaged or marginalized by the conventional trading system.
• Transparency and accountability
  Fair Trade involves transparent management and commercial relations to deal fairly and respectfully with trading partners.
• Capacity building
  Fair Trade is a means to develop producers’ independence. Fair Trade relationships provide continuity, during which producers and their marketing organizations can improve their management skills and their access to new markets.
• Promoting Fair Trade
  Fair Trade Organizations raise awareness of Fair Trade and the possibility of greater justice in world trade. They provide their customers with information about the organization, the products, and in what conditions they are made. They use honest advertising and marketing techniques and aim for the highest standards in product quality and packing.
• Payment of a fair price
  A fair price in the regional or local context is one that has been agreed through dialogue and participation. It covers not only the costs of production but enables production which is socially just and environmentally sound. It provides fair pay to the producers and takes into account the principle of equal pay for equal work by women and men. Fair Traders ensure prompt payment to their partners and, whenever possible, help producers with access to pre-harvest or pre-production financing.
• Gender Equity
  Fair Trade means that women’s work is properly valued and rewarded. Women are always paid for their contribution to the production process and are empowered in their organizations.
• Working conditions
  Fair Trade means a safe and healthy working environment for producers. The participation of children (if any) does not adversely affect their well-being, security, educational requirements and need for play and conforms to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child as well as the law and norms in the local context.
• Child Labor
  Fair Trade Organizations respect the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, as well as local laws and social norms in order to ensure that the participation of children in production processes of fairly traded articles (if any) does not adversely affect their well-being, security, educational requirements and need for play. Organizations working directly with informally organized producers disclose the involvement of children in production.
• The environment
  Fair Trade actively encourages better environmental practices and the application of responsible methods of production.
• Trade Relations
  Fair Trade Organizations trade with concern for the social, economic and environmental well-being of marginalized small producers and do not maximize profit at their expense. They maintain long-term relationships based on solidarity, trust and mutual respect that contribute to the promotion and growth of Fair Trade. Whenever possible producers are assisted with access to pre-harvest or pre-production advance payment.

What is Fair Trade?

• Fair Trade is a trading partnership, based on dialogue, transparency and respect, that seeks greater equity in international trade. It contributes to sustainable development by offering better trading conditions to, and securing the rights of, marginalized producers and workers – especially in the South.
• Fair Trade organizations have a clear commitment to Fair Trade as the principal core of their mission. They, backed by consumers, are engaged actively in supporting producers, awareness raising and in campaigning for changes in the rules and practice of conventional international trade. They can be recognized by the FTO Mark.
• Fair Trade is more than just trading: it proves that greater justice in world trade is possible. It highlights the need for change in the rules and practice of conventional trade and shows how a successful business can also put people first.

Market access and Fair Trade labeling

In the 1980s, a new way of reaching the broad public was developed. A priest working with smallholder coffee farmers in Mexico and a collaborator of a Dutch church-based NGO conceived the idea of a Fair Trade label. Products bought, traded and sold respecting Fair Trade conditions would qualify for a label that would make them stand out among ordinary products on store shelves, and would allow any company to get involved in Fair Trade. In 1988, the "Max Havelaar" label was established in The Netherlands. The concept caught on: within a year, coffee with the label had a market share of almost three percent.

In the ensuing years, similar non-profit Fair Trade labeling organizations were set up in other European countries and in North America . In 1997, the worldwide association, Fair Trade Labeling International, was created. FLO is now responsible for setting international Fair Trade standards, for certifying production and auditing trade according to these standards and for the labeling of products. The range of labeled products, which now counts seven, will soon be expanded.

Fair Trade labeling indeed has helped Fair Trade to go into mainstream business. Currently, over two-thirds of Fair Trade products, are sold by mainstream catering and retailing.

Parallel to the development of the labeling for products, IFAT has developed a monitoring system for Fair Trade Organizations, in order to strengthen the credibility of these organizations towards political decision-makers, mainstream business and consumers. The IFAT Fair Trade Organization Mark was launched in January 2004. It is available to IFAT members that meet the requirements of the IFAT standards and monitoring system and identifies them as registered Fair Trade Organizations. IFAT is working with FLO to find a way to provide an "on product" Mark for handcrafts of all kinds.