Archive for March, 2011
Fair Trade Clothing For The Conscious Consumer
Fair trade products offer an affordable, high quality alternative to mass-produced items for the conscious consumer. Purchasing fair trade products directly supports a more equitable international trading system, and provides numerous benefits to both the producers and the consumers.
Fair trade is a social movement that seeks to bring greater equality and justice to the system of international trade. These trade products are made in small production units and cooperatives and the producers are paid a fair and sustainable wage for their work. Further, the traditional production methods ensure that these trade products are made with the least amount of environmental impact. The use of natural fibers, dyes, and other materials means that both the producers and the consumers benefit; the producers are not exposed to toxic and hazardous materials and the consumers can rest assured that the products are non-toxic for the person that is using or wearing them.
Developing countries are increasingly becoming sources of cheap labor multinational companies. Most of the internationally established businesses have their presence in either one or more developing countries and cheap labor is the main reason for which multi-national corporations flock to these countries. More competition in the global market often leads to increasing exploitation of producers in the developing nations. Read the rest of this entry »
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Fair Trade and Local – Can They Co-Exist
“Fair trade” – what a wonderful concept! Simply put, trading fairly means paying a decent, respectable (by local standards), price or living wage for someone’s time, talent or labor. “Fair trade” is a relatively recent concept, and an antidote to the common exploitative practice of paying rock-bottom slave wages to workers to minimize costs and maximize profits. “Fair trade” is, well, only fair, in a world of huge financial disparities.
“Fair trade”, as commonly practiced, however, does have its drawbacks. Most importantly, it is usually applied only to workers in communities in which the average standard of living is much lower than our own. Therefore, “fair trade” generally means that the goods or services so designated, are obtained from a great distance outside the US. Distance means importing, and importing means increasing the carbon footprint of the item or service purchased. In addition, purchasing from abroad means reducing the amount of badly-needed money circulating within our own local economies. If “fairly traded” goods are mainly non-local and they compete with locally-made goods, then local people must seek markets elsewhere, often in smaller economies. This is good news for importers and exporters, but bad news for the environment and for producers who must try to sell at high relative prices to maintain a decent standard of living in a more expensive economy. Read the rest of this entry »
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Fair Trade – Why Is It Important
Fair trade is increasingly popular for imported goods. You may see coffee in your gourmet food store with a “fair trade” label. You may see textiles and crafts for sale on the web advertised as being “fair trade” products. But what is it exactly? Fair trade is an approach to marketing that incorporates environmentally sustainable development and humane wages and working conditions. It is based on the twin principles that the producer of a product should receive a living wage for his or her work and that commerce should be done with the intent of maintaining environmental conditions for future generations. Those goals are accomplished by working directly with small businesses, cooperatives and community-based organizations, thereby cutting out layers of middlemen. As a consequence of the elimination of middlemen, the retail prices for fair trade items are comparable to products that are not fair trade. Read the rest of this entry »