I am a massive advocate of fair trade principles and I alway make efforts to buy fair trade clothing  and foodstuffs wherever possible by searching for fair trade labelling. In recent years we are also able to buy fair trade stuff which are organic too.  That’s a big plus for me! I know that we need to buy local wherever possible but there is still a significant number of consumers who will buy imported fair trade products because they know they are making a difference in the livelihoods of people in developing countries.

So where and how did the fair trade movement as we know it today begin?

It was in the 1960s and 1970s that the fair trade idea began to take on

Robert Craythorne

the form that most of us would recognise today. The first World Shop was opened in Ohio, USA and shortly afterwards the first European outlet was unveiled in Breukelen, in the Netherlands. However it wasn’t until 1989 that the first Fairtrade label, Max Havelaar, was launched.

The fair trade movement as we know it today is generally thought of as having arisen in the aftermath of the Second World War. Efforts to market goods created by producers who were considered to be “marginalised” were initiated by religious groups and sometimes politically orientated non-governmental organisations.

The Mennonite Central Committee (in 1946) and SERRV International (in 1949) were the first to create fair trade supply chains in the developing nations. Their products at the time were almost exclusively handicrafts which ranged from jute goods to cross-stitch work, and were sold mostly by volunteers in charity shops. The goods themselves usually had no function other than to indicate that a donation had been given.

The World Shop

It was in the 1960s and 1970s that the fair trade idea began to take on the form that most of us would recognise today. The first World Shop was opened in Ohio, USA and shortly afterwards the first European outlet was unveiled in Breukelen, in the Netherlands. However it wasn’t until 1989 that the first Fairtrade label, Max Havelaar, was launched.

The notion of fair trading does actually predate the modern movement by centuries. E. P. Thompson, writing of 18th century England, spoke of a society in which “notions of common well being, often supported by paternalistic traditional authorities, imposed some limits on the free operations of the market”. Farmers were not permitted to manipulate prices by withholding their products in anticipation of price increases. Fair trading was already seen as a means of addressing failings in the market although the concept did primarily revolve around the rights of consumers rather than producers.

Global Fair Trade Sales

In the 21st century of course ethical shopping has become far more than just a gesture or a means of providing a donation. A whole range of products and services with a completely practical function have begun to compete in the market with those produced by the wider commercial market. Today fair trade gifts and products account for billions of dollars in worldwide global sales each year.

Consumers today have a greater understanding of their own power to challenge exploitation and to limit or even to reverse the damage done to the global environment by the demands of production and consumption.

To explore a comprehensive range of eco gifts suitable for family and friends of all ages, visit Green Tulip, the UK’s leading online ethical gifts shop.

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