Fair trade, ethical business and other musings: Blogging Fair Trade

Fair trade products. Part 2: What makes a product fair trade?

August 10th 2010 Posted at Fair Trade
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Not all “fair trade” products bear the Fairtrade Mark. In fact, this now famous logo can only be applied to a limited number of types of products: think fruit, vegetables, cotton, certain drinks and other foodstuffs.

The fact of the matter is, if your product does not belong to one of the categories for which the International Fairtrade Labelling Organisation (FLO) has created a process for certifying it fairtrade, it cannot bear the Fairtrade Mark, even if it ticks all the boxes and makes a significant improvement to the lives of the producers.

So what of products like jewellery and handicrafts? Shops like Shared Earth – now recognisable on the high streets of a number of lucky towns in Britain – and online stores like my very own By Hand Fair Trade Shop or The Fair Trade Store are fair trade shops, selling fair trade jewellery and handicrafts, but many of their products may not and do not bear the Fairtrade Mark because of the type of products they are, namely jewellery and handicrafts.

So what makes these products fair trade? And are they comparable to products bearing the Fairtrade Mark?

The World Fair Trade Organisation (WFTO) has been instrumental in developing fair trade across the globe over the last 20 years. The WFTO’s 10 standards of fair trade are the basis upon which the fair trade nature of the products in question are judged. These 10 standards must be adhered to as a minimum. In addition to these, for the products to be truly fair trade, either the producers, the exporter or the importer needs to be a registered member of the WFTO. This may seem like an unnecessary step that could limit and disadvantage the smallest producers and importers, but in reality it is a necessary requirement to ensure that the term “fair trade” is not bandied around and that it is only applied to organisations that have been independently audited by the WFTO and, as such, organisations that have been proven to be acting in line with the 10 standards of fair trade.

The 10 standards of fair trade:

Creating opportunities for economically disadvantaged producers
Transparency and accountability
Fair trading practices
Payment of a fair price
No child labour or forced labour
Non-discrimination, gender equity and freedom of association
Safe and healthy working conditions
Capacity building
Promotion of fair trade
A sustainable approach to the environment

The products produced, imported or sold by members of the WFTO (= organisations that prove regularly to fulfil the 10 standards of fair trade) are fair trade products. Even though they may not fall into a category of product that can be awarded the Fairtrade Mark (e.g. foodstuff, drink, etc.) they are fair trade. And even though they do not bear the Fairtrade Mark (because it is not applicable to their type of product yet), they are as beneficial to producers working to improve the lives of their families and communities through trade as those products bearing the Fairtrade Mark.

Fair trade products. Part 1: What makes a product fairtrade?

July 20th 2010 Posted at Fair Trade
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As discussed in Fairtrade versus fair trade, there are two different types of fairtrade/fair trade and, as such, two different types of products: fairtrade products and fair trade products. In this blog I will discuss what makes a product fairtrade, whilst my next blog will focus on fair trade products.

If something is designated a fairtrade product it means that it has been awarded the Fair Trade Mark. This logo is a great way of making fairtrade products easy to spot in supermarket aisles and of raising awareness of fairtrade.

The Fairtrade Mark is awarded by the Fairtrade Foundation in the UK. In the early days, this mark was only awarded to products like coffee, chocolate and bananas. A lot of progress has been made, however, and the Fairtrade Mark can now be seen on a whole host of different products:

coffee, tea, hot chocolate, wine, beer, fruit juice
fresh fruit, including bananas, grapes, pineapples, grapefruits, lemons, etc.
dried fruit, biscuits, cereals, rice, honey
chocolate, sweets, cakes
flowers
cotton

The Fairtrade Foundation also recently announced the launch of fairtrade vegetables, and it is likely that more and more types of products will be added to the increasingly comprehensive list of items that can be bought in a fairtrade version.

If a product bears the Fairtrade Mark it means that it has passed stringent tests and fulfilled the strict standards set by the international fairtrade labelling body, or the FLO, of which the Fairtrade Foundation is the UK representative. These standards relate to three areas of development – social development, economic development and environmental development – and their objectives are as follows:

to ensure a guaranteed Fairtrade minimum price which is agreed with producers
to provide an additional Fairtrade premium which can be invested in projects that enhance social, economic and environmental development
to enable pre-financing for producers who require it
to emphasise the idea of partnership between trade partners
to facilitate mutually beneficial long-term trading relationships
to set clear minimum and progressive criteria to ensure that the conditions for the production and trade of a product are socially and economically fair and environmentally responsible.

The standards applied to products awarded the Fairtrade Mark are carefully developed by the FLO to suit the individual product in question. The standards go above and beyond guaranteeing a certain price for producers; they specify rules that must be followed by the producers, to ensure that a quality product is created, and by the wholesalers/retailers, to ensure that a fair trading relationship is formed.

As these fairtrade standards are created for specific products, the Fairtrade Mark can only be applied to products that have already had these standards developed. For producers of handicrafts and other goods, they must look to the World Fair Trade Organisation and fair trade. My next blog will look more closely at how fair trade works.

Fairtrade versus fair trade

July 12th 2010 Posted at Fair Trade
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When I am not working for By Hand and doing my utmost to spread the fair trade word, I have a second life in which my days are spent with language. As such, it seems entirely appropriate that I write a blog about spelling.

There are two ways of writing fair trade – or fairtrade - and neither constitutes a mispelt word (although my spell-check appears to think that fairtrade is incorrect). In fact, the two different ways of spelling fair trade actually have two slightly different contexts:

The Fairtrade Foundation is the UK’s fairtrade labelling organisation. They are the guys in charge of the Fairtrade Mark in the UK and they represent the UK within the International Fairtrade Labelling Organisation, or the FLO. They are the pioneers of fairtrade in the UK. They work with the FLO to make up the rules of what makes a product fairtrade, what companies have to do to be able to claim that their products are fairtrade, and how producers need to be treated in order to guarantee fairtrade certification. They own fairtrade (in the non-literal sense) and every product that carries the Fairtrade Mark is a fairtrade product.

Fair trade, on the other hand, has a broader existence: It is a concept of trade that benefits everyone in the supply chain, including the producers. It is a philosophy of cooperation and a movement that is demonstrating that there is no need to exploit and no room for the bullying tactics of those with the power/money. Fair trade has its own rules, as defined by the World Fair Trade Organisation* (or WFTO for short), and its own products. They do not carry the Fairtrade Mark, but they are fair trade because they have been created in line with the rules of fair trade, as stipulated by the WFTO.

Fair trade products and fairtrade products are equally fantastic. Both make a massive difference to the lives of the producers by the very nature of their existence. Fair trade is not better than fairtrade and vice versa. The simple difference is this: Fairtrade means it is recognised as fairtrade by the Fairtrade Foundation; fair trade means it fulfils the principles of fair trade stipulated by the WFTO.

* The WFTO is a global, democratic organisation that has been driving the global fair trade movement for the past 20 years. It’s members have a 100% commitment to fair trade and are monitored to ensure that they conform to the 10 principles of fair trade (see above). Members include producers, artisans and fair trade retailers.

Saving the independent shops

July 5th 2010 Posted at Ethical business
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I have recently been enjoying the latest TV series by Mary Portas, self-crowned Queen of Shops. Mary Portas “made her name in retail” and now takes it upon herself to visit shops and give them a new lease of life. Her previous series saw her tackle charity shops; now she is trying to rescue dying independents from being sent under by supermarkets.

The series has seen her seek to revive a bakers, a corner shop, a greengrocers and, most recently, a shop selling items for the home. The shops are always run by great characters and they tend to take insult to Mary’s words of wisdom, which are fairly blatantly exaggerated and spiced up to improve the entertainment factor.

Mary Portas

The core of each show is finding the unique selling point (or USP) of the shop in question: What can they offer that the supermarkets can’t?

It goes without saying that the small independent shops on our high streets are being put out of business because supermarkets sell everything and cheaply. So, according to Mary, the only way for independent shops to survive is to offer something that the supermarkets can’t. For the bakers it was specialist bread baked by an on-site baker; for the corner shop, sourcing local produce from farmers and local businesses; the greengrocers was freshness and local produce, as well as a door-to-door veg box service; and for the homeware shop it was seeking out items at markets and doing them up with a touch of creativity.

Although Mary Portas’ style is somewhat head-on and, at times, a little OTT, you cannot deny that she knows her stuff. Her work on the shops includes a rebranding and refit, and by the time her work is done the shop always looks ten times better and like it has a real chance of survival.

But, at the end of the day, it is consumers who will decide which shops will survive and which will go under. You can now quite easily buy everything from supermarkets, and with online shopping, you don’t even need to go to the store on your local high street. Local shops like butchers, bakers, greengrocers and corner shops really are facing an uphill struggle and will only survive if consumers choose to shop there, despite the convenience of having everything under one roof at a supermarket.

Why would anyone buy meat from one shop, fruit and veg from another, and bread from a third shop, when you can buy everything from one big superstore? Well I do exactly that, and why? Because I want these shops to be there in 5 years time. I try and buy as little as possible from supermarkets, and choose instead to support local independent businesses. I go to my local butcher for the friendly service, the locally sourced produce and because I want there to be a butchers on my local high street.

The simple truth is that if we do not support local independent businesses they will disappear, and when they do, all we will have left will be supermarkets: Four monster companies deciding what the nation eats.

Mary Queen of Shops, Monday 9pm, BBC2

About Me

My name is Lucy and I am co-founder of the fair trade shop By Hand. My passion for fair trade was one of many reasons for establishing By Hand and it is something that I want to share here.

I hope that through my musings and articles I can inspire people to buy more fair trade items and to support the small, local businesses under threat from the supermarkets and highstreet giants.

If you like what you read, do get involved. Contact me or comment on the blog. If you wish to make a more telling contribution then write an article about your own fair trade experiences and, so long as it is appropriate, I will publish it here.
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