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"Action springs not from thought, but from readiness for responsibility."
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich German theologian (1906-1945)
Do you know the FAQs About Fair Trade?
The mission of The Culture Shop is to increase the availability and awareness of Fair Trade Certified products within our communities near and far. The Fair Trade system provides tangible benefits to small-scale farmers and workers, consumers and the environment.
The Culture Shop sees, as its complementary mission, an opportunity to raise awareness of fair trade issues among the greater community - by nurturing and cultivating critical thinking among a core group of socially responsible visionaries.
What is Fair Trade?
Fair Trade Criteria
Why Fair Trade?
How to Identify Fair Trade Products
Who Benefits from Fair Trade?
What Fair Trade Products are Available?
What is fair trade?
Fair trade is a system that not only aims to pay fair wages, but also to support participatory workplaces; ensure environmental sustainability; supply financial and technical support; respect cultural identity, offer public accountability, and educate consumers about the choices that they can make in their regular shopping habits. Fair trade businesses foster long-term and direct relationships with producers in the developing world, because they know these connections are a highly effective way to help producers help themselves. Fair trade is not about charity; it uses a fair system of exchange to empower producers and to create sustainable development.
What does that really mean?
First and foremost, fair trade is about offering great products to the public. Consumers can choose fairly traded clothing, coffee, food, furniture, home decor, house wares, jewelry, tea, toys, personal accessories, and many other products.
Second, fair trade is about keeping prices affordable for consumers while returning a higher amount of the producers. This relationship is made by possible, because fair trade retailers and wholesalers typically work directly with artisans and farmers, cutting out the middle men who increase the price at each level enabling retail products to remain competitively priced in respect to their conventional counterparts, while fairly compensating producers.
Finally, fair trade makes a tremendous impact on producer communities. Childrens school fees are paid, nutritional needs met, health care costs covered by producers themselves; the poor, especially women, are empowered; the environmental impact is mitigated; all of these benefits are possible, because fair trade approaches development as a holistic process.
What kinds of goods are available fair trade?
Consumers can choose fairly traded clothing, coffee, food, furniture, home decor, house wares, jewelry, tea, toys, personal accessories, and many other products. For more information on the range of products available, please see the items offered by our members.
Do fair trade goods cost more than comparable non-fair trade goods?
Generally, fairly traded items don't cost more than other goods, because fair trade businesses work directly with producers - cutting out anywhere from 3 - 10 middlemen who raise the price along the way in conventional trading. The cost to consumers typically remains the same while a higher percentage of the price is returned to the artisans and farmers who made the product.
How much money (percent of sale price) do the artisans make?
Although the percentage varies depending on the product and vendors involved, about 15-30% of the retail price goes to the producer. The rest of the retail price covers the basic expenses of the importer and/or the retailer, such as rent, wages, and other costs of doing business.
What are the underlying criteria for establishing fair trade guidelines?
* Paying a fair wage in the local context
* Offering employees opportunities for advancement
* Engaging in environmentally sustainable practices
* Being open to public accountability
* Building long-term trade relationships
* Providing healthy and safe working conditions within the local context
* Providing financial and technical assistance to producers whenever possible
* Ensuring that there is no abuse of child labor
Why Fair Trade?
Our consumer spending choices affect people's lives around the world. The products we enjoy are often made in conditions that harm workers, communities and the environment. But increasingly consumers are demanding more humane, more environmentally sensitive products.
In today's world economy, where profits rule and small-scale producers are left out of the bargaining process, farmers, craft producers, and other workers are often left without resources or hope for their future. Fair Trade helps exploited producers escape from this cycle and gives them a way to maintain their traditional lifestyles with dignity.
Who benefits from Fair Trade?
The Fair Trade system benefits over 800,000 farmers organized into cooperatives and unions in 48 countries. Fair Trade has helped farmers provide for their families' basic needs and invest in community development for technical assistance for building infrastructure, improved access to low or no-interest loans, better healthcare and evaluation. However, these farmers are still selling most of their crop outside of the Fair Trade system because not enough companies are buying at Fair Trade prices. Who else benefits? The Fair Trade system benefits consumers by:
* Giving them the option of purchasing according to their principles and values
* Empowering them to be a player in the solution to global trade inequities
* Providing them with high quality products
* Assuring them of the ethical source of their purchases
Fair Trade rewards and encourages farming and production practices that are environmentally sustainable, such as:
* Integrated farm management systems which minimize pollutants, pesticides and herbicides
* Organic agriculture techniques
* Banning the use of most dangerous pesticides
What Fair Trade Products are Available?
Fair Trade encompasses a range of goods, from agricultural products from the global South like coffee, chocolate, tea, and bananas, to handcrafts like clothing, household items, and decorative arts.
How to Identify Fair Trade Products
Fair Trade products can be identified by the "Fair Trade Certified" label or the Fair Trade Federation logo on a product. The "Fair Trade Certified" system involves non-profit organizations in 17 different countries, all affiliated with Fairtrade Labeling Organizations International.
In the USA, TransFair USA places the "Fair Trade Certified" label on coffee, cocoa, tea, bananas and other fruits. This label is product-specific, meaning that its presence on one product doesn't mean that all of the companies products are Fair Trade. The Fair Trade Federation is an association of businesses that follow fair trade principles across the board, so its presence on a product DOES mean that a company supports the highest level of commitment to fair trade -100%.
Source: Fair Trade Federation
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