Fair Trade Blog

Patricia Lewis, who lives with her canine companion in Canada, has been a good customer. We share a passion for the Arghand Cooperative, which I have written about in the space many times. Patricia started by buying their distinctive soaps from us. Just recently, she bought Arghand scarves that we first began offering earlier this spring.

I ask her to send me some thoughts about her recent purchase and this is what she had to say. 

Discerning shopper?  Travel the world and find the same stores, same malls, selling the same merchandise you find in your local mall at home?  Handcrafted treasures are increasingly going the way of the dinosaur, now pretty much in the stages of the polar bear — threatened.  Cheaper mass-produced, often synthetic assembly-line goods are taking their place.  Our culture, one that clearly embraces uniqueness and individuality, is also disappearing. Doesn’t have to be entirely so.

Make a statement with your purchasing power — support handcrafted treasures made by traditional methods that date back to antiquity, at the same time fuelling little economies that enable people to live self-sufficently and also pass down their dignified crafts to the next generations, who can also take pride in their talents, works of art, and honest labours. 

Celebrate your lovely new purchase and wear it smartly.

Buy smart, dress smart. I like that. Thanks, Patricia.

Keep shopping your good values!

Spring.  Time for the new.  Time to clear out the not so new. 

Ten turns of beads and bangles!   These Kenyan bracelets wrap your wrist in color.

Bright and shiny.  Silver earrings made in Chile to add a little sparkle in just the right places!

Intriguing Haitian wall hangings.  Each time you look at the Voodoo art design, cut and shaped from reclaimed oil drums, you’ll see something slightly different. 

Clothing on sale.  All of our blouses are discounted!  Need something cool and breezy this season?  How about a colorful top from Ecuador? 

Keep shopping your good values!

… and Start a Revolution!”

Zendik Arts Farm is an intentional community in West Virginia that believes you can change the world by expressing yourself. Their mission statement says they believe in creative survival and social change through the arts.

We carry the T-Shirt that expresses their core values. By wearing their T, you can tell other people to “Stop Bitching and Start a Revolution.”

They’re organic cotton and come in cool colors including natural, mustard, galaxy blue, and pomegranate.

Wulf and Arol Zendik, an unconventional and somewhat controversial couple, founded a commune in California in 1969. Wulf evolved the belief that nature’s ultimate purpose is to expand consciousness and that our choices influence that evolution. Based on this thinking, the current community, lead by the Zendik’s daughter Fawn, attempts to use earth-friendly systems to sustain themselves on the farm while promoting their message of change.

Their message and their T-Shirts definitely get people talking.

Keep shopping your good values!

I’ve only seen one side of Fair Trade in action — the retail side.   It’s a narrow perspective, if you want to really understand Fair Trade, like I do. 

The starting point of Fair Trade is just as important as the end point.  So, I’m off to Ecuador at the end of the month to see Fair Trade from where it starts.  I’ll be traveling on an educational trip from Dec. 31 to Jan. 15 with Minga Fair Trade International, a Fair Trade wholesaler here in Wisconsin.  

Fair Trade products most often come from cooperatives.  I’m most excited about seeing a few of these cooperatives up close.  It will also be my first opportunity to talk to producers about their process and how Fair Trade operates in their lives. 

We have been carrying Minga’s handmade clothing, and other items for over 2 years now.  Their handmade wool sweaters, gloves, hats, mittens, and other warm apperal has been popular with you, our customers.  I’m hoping to see how Alpaca fur goes from the llama to the socks or the hat, before it ends up on your head or feet!   

We’ll be staying in Quito, the capital of Ecuador.  Quito rests at over 9,000 feet at the foot of Mount Pichincha, an active volcano.  The climate is very mild and stable because of it’s elevation and proximity to the equator.  (Ecuador means equator in spanish.)  The landscape alone will be like nothing I have ever see, the culture like nothing I have ever experienced. 

I’ll be writing about my trip and bringing you photos in this space.  I may even be able to update you while I’m there.  And when I come back, I’ll be wiser and better able to bring you the stories of Fair Trade.

Keep shopping your good values!

Is Fair Trade accountable?   Can you trust that when you buy from us, the product you recieve is Fair Trade?  The short answer is yes, though the big picture is more complicated.  

The items we carry come from all over the world and it would be impossible for me to track them all.  That’s why certification organizations like the Fair Trade Labeling Organizations International are so important.

FLO International certifies mostly agricultural producers and workers through 20 certification organizations that joined forces in 2004 to synchronize standards and represent under a single recognizable brand. 

You probably recognize this logo from quite a few Fair Trade products. If you want to view some other Fair Trade logos to look for, check out this Wikipedia entry.

We obtain products primarily through members of the Fair Trade Federation.  That group requires their members to go through an application process that focuses on their Fair Trade practices.  When we offer FTF member products like our colorful blouses from Minga Fair Trade Imports, we can channel that trust to you our customers. 

Unfortunately, there are occasional abuses. Workers may not be paid the standard wages, or products may be labeled as Fair Trade when they are not.  Some unscrupulous behavior is inevitable, but it is light years ahead of a system that generally embraces the bottom line over any other concern.  

Sometimes we decide that we can’t wait for, or don’t need, certification to partner with a cooperative.  We contacted Arghand Cooperative on the suggestion of a customer.  Though they are not certified by any organization, we felt we had to connect you to their wonderful soaps and oils so that this foothold of stability and economic progress in Afghanistan can endure. 

Trust, yet verify, someone once said.   Well, we’re doing both.   

Keep shopping your good values! 

Though spring is having a hard time arriving here in the upper Midwest, it’s definitely spring in our store.  We did a photo shoot to bring you our new spring and summer clothing.  I had great fun with our models Andrew and Rain along with our photographer Rebecca. 

It was a welcome bright spot on a cold, rainy day.  

Our new blouses are just the thing for those warm days now arriving.  Handmade embroidery on fantastic colors including reds, blues, greens, and yellows highlight our breezy new selection. 

We have new “pirate” shirts to bring out the scoundrel in the guys.  Our men’s short sleeve shirts come in traditional blue, white, and ivory.  

For your warm weather walk about, we have colorful shoulder bags for guys or gals that include roomy pockets and casual style.  Very comfortable!

Our jewelry selection now includes a wonderful single-bloosom necklace carved from Tagua nut.   The selection of colors will help you compliment any outfit.   We found out at our shoot that they go particularly well with our new blouses. 

Keep shopping your good values! 

Arghand Soap is once again available on our website and in our shop, so we eagerly await your order for this special product.  We have Amandine, Anisette, Elixir of Artemis, Mountain Herb, Pebbles, and my favorite, Pomegranate.  Dig in! 

We also have more Arghand bookmarks featuring colorful photos of  women working with pomegranantes.  A beautiful reminder of their handmade products.  We include one with each order.  

Arghand continues to move ahead.  The resumption of shipments is a step forward.  The cooperative is planning to get solar power installed so that they can continue working even when the local power fails.  We hope that project is completed soon so that the cooperative gains a little more independence from the situation that continues to swirl around them.

Meanwhile, spring has finally arrived in the northern tier.  So has a lot of spring and summer fashion. Look for new items on our website next week! 

Keep shopping your good values!  

Kile

If you ever wondered whether you could actually put together an entire outfit using fairly traded clothing, the answer is now yes.  The availability of Fair Trade clothing items has recently literally exploded including everything from sneakers to jeans to handmade sweaters and blouses. 

In our shop, we carry a wide variety of fairly traded clothing from Central and South America which led to a brief style show here in our home town of Viroqua.  I spoke at the Business and Professional Women’s Association meeting November 13.  No one likes a dry talk, and since a picture is worth a thousand words, I decided to show, rather than tell, the story of our wonderful handmade clothing.

I recruited five professional women from the area and invited them to pick an outfit for the style show.  Bette, for example, a Property Manager and Marketing Manager for a local assisted living facility, chose an avocado green shirt with matching sweater, contrasting scarf, glittens (mitten/glove combo) and finished it off with bold yellow beaded earrings.

My models were super — a little too “super” as it turned out.  Nicki, an employment specialist with VARC, stole the show.  “And now for the story of five women who recently became supermodels,” I began.  “He’s starving us!” Nicki whined.  The room broke up and I had to collect myself to continue.  Oh well… we’re all still talking and laughing about it, so it was worth the little jab at my expense.

Back to clothing, we have soft organic cotton T-shirts from Nicaragua, handmade sweaters for men and women from Ecuador, and accessories from around the world.  Check out FairTradeFederation.org for other great retail sources for pants, shirts and blouses, shoes, hats, accessories, and other clothing.

The next time you put on your clothes, make sure you are dressing with Fair Trade.

Keep shopping your good values! 

Kile