What exactly is Fair Trade?
Fair Trade is an alternative approach to conventional international trade.
It is a partnership between producers and traders that aims at sustainable development for excluded and disadvantaged producers. It enables people to feed their families, develop their communities and it gives them dignity.
200 years after the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act was signed, there are still approximately 20 million people in slavery worldwide. Fair Trade is a modern remedy for slavery – it has the potential to alleviate poverty by changing the unfair structures of world trade.
People use varying terms such as fairtrade, fair trade and fairly traded. The term ‘Fairtrade’ as one word is part of the Fairtrade Foundation’s logo and trademark and is used for products that have actually been certified ‘Fairtrade’. This certification is given by the Fairtrade Foundation.
The Fairtrade mark has traditionally applied to raw foods. This was to ensure that farmers were being given a fair price for the food that they grew. The demand for Fairtrade certified foods has grown rapidly – in 2003 there were approximately 150 certified Fairtrade products … by 2007 there were over 3000.
Until independent certification is available for other products such as gifts, crafts, accessories and certain types of clothing, we feel that it is important to support those suppliers, manufacturers and communities who demonstrate their support for fair trade principles, and who are trying to benefit the communities in which they work and trade. This also includes co-operatives and communities who are striving to maintain traditional skills and crafts. We would class these individuals and companies as promoters of fair trade or purveyors of fairly traded goods.
Look out for our bestfairtrade.com stamp of approval – this means that we are confident that the company is doing its best to uphold the standards of fair trade, even though it is not officially certified. Many companies are striving to get official recognition – in some cases it can take several years to get international fair trade certification but we recognise their actions now.
Useful Fair Trade links
Fairtrade Foundation
International Fairtrade Association (IFAT)
British Association for Fair Trade Shops (BAFTS)
Wikipedia definition of Fair Trade
