For me, Fair Trade is a sign of evolution.  It is proof that, even though we have all been following outdated economic theories for so long, we can innovate and create a system where values are more important than profits.  Still, it's also a system that aims to be profitable.

Fair Trade gives artisans and farmers a platform that helps them participate in global trade (and eventually break the poverty cycle).  It empowers them with market and design information so they can create products that will be functional and will sell in developed nations.  This is a sustainable system that will continue working even if the retailer/wholesaler that started helping the producer stops operating.

In the end, fair trade hopes to alleviate global poverty and promote sustainable business practices (which also include concern for the environment).  Moreover, it creates a business partnership based on transparency and respect, which will hopefully eliminate exploitation, slavery and child trafficking.

see my site www.earthpeoplefoundation.org
for the concepts and www.fairtradefish.org
for more info and data

Viva El Frente/Verde[.org]
Viva La Revolucion

For me, as well as being a way of doing trade to deliver more sustainable outcomes for both people living in poverty and the planet, fair trade is a people's movement for change. It seeks to empower both ends of a supply chain - the producer and the consumer - with a united vision of trade tackling inequality, promoting social and economic development and protecting the planet. Although I work for one of the Fairtrade labelling organisations (Fairtrade Foundation UK), we see certification only as a means to a much bigger end, and that is tipping the balance of international trade in favour of those who are traditionally marginalised or exploited by conventional trade, and using the benefits to build better stronger communities. Certification is one tool to do that, but there are others - the dedicated fair trade business model, other forms of producer support and empowerment, as well as public awareness and trade justice campaigning in both North and South.

I think that in general, most people who use apply the term to products or businesses intend to convey that the people who make the products are paid a decent wage and subject to fair labor practices.  However, beyond that, there is quite a bit of confusion.  Does it imply certification from organizations like Transfair USA or membership in the Fair Trade Association?  If not, what standards of "fair labor practices" are being applied?  And who is checking to see that they are, in fact, being followed?  There are many small businesses that apply fair labor practices and rightly believe they have a right to claim that their products are fairly traded, but for the consumer, the problem is that, without certification, it is difficult to know exactly what the term entails.  At WeBuyItGreen, when merchants on our site use this term, if the merchant or product is not certified, we try to give at least a brief explanation of what the merchant means by using it, but this often requires some research, and the answers are not always easy to find.

I also have trouble deciding about capitalization and even the spelling of fairtrade (fair trade)??

For me, fair trade is all about giving producers and workers a better deal while providing consumers with the choice to know that they are not eating or consuming bloody or slave produced treats. The Fair Trade Labelling Organization (FLO ) is the biggest international body that certifies producers, importers, and is likely familiar to many N.A. consumers from the Transfair USA and Transfair Canada labels on coffee, tea, and chocolate.
The Institute for Marketecology (IMO) has created a "complimentary" fair trade / social responsibility set of standards that is more flexible and are easier to adapt to different production and labour conditions and goes beyond farmer coops: Fair For Life.

As president of a Fair Trade certified chocolate company (Sweet Earth Organic Chocolates, Inc.), I see Fair Trade as a brand that 1) adds value to the product and 2) provides the consumer a measure of assurance that the product was ethically produced and 3) raises awareness about inequities between 1st and 3rd Worlds. 

To me, the gold standard, however, is direct trade, which is not a certified system, but that provides direct reward to the farmer for a quality product.  Eventually, my dream is to design a line of chocolate that is directly traded, where chocolates would be made from the products of specific villages (see Project Hope and Fairness for descriptions of some of my current projects).  In this way, the financial benefit is most efficiently directed to the farmer. 

I will probably always produce Fair Trade chocolates, as I have confidence that the brand is backed by results.  I admire the work of Paul Rice and his NGO, TransFairUSA.

What is Fair Trade to me?  To me it is a way to achieve certain social justice objectives for farmers and artisans in developing countries by effectively utilizing our free enterprise system in the United States.

By way of background, I have over forty years in the television and motion picture business in Los Angeles.  A widower for the past six years, I recently married a Peruvian woman.  As I wind down my career in entertainment, I’m planning a second career in social justice.  The specific area is Fair Trade.  The specific locale is Peru.

For the past four years, I have been chair of the Mission Committee at my church (First Presbyterian in Burbank, CA).  In this role I’ve been introduced to many worthy causes that cry out for support.  None has captured my imagination as much as the Fair Trade movement.  It provides education and support to indigenous peoples in developing countries, empowering them to create sustainable lives.  Its socio-economic model promotes fair prices, fair labor conditions, opportunities for marketplace leverage, democratic and transparent self-governance, community development and environmental sustainability.

So, why did Fair Trade capture my imagination, instead of some other cause?  Because it’s a wonderful, rational, sensible movement (supported by hundreds of thousands of well-meaning people and organizations) that hasn’t even scratched the surface of meeting the needs of the people it’s designed to serve.  It is one of the best kept secrets of the Western Hemisphere.  After being around for over twenty years, Fair Trade languishes for lack support in the cultural main stream.  It tends to live at the fringes.  Most people think it’s only about coffee.  Or worse, they confuse Fair Trade with the so-called “free trade” agreements between the U.S. and our neighbors to the South.   (Happily, Europe gets it! The Fair Trade movement there is huge.) Right now, one of the hardest questions to answer is “Where can I buy Fair Trade items?”

As a mechanism to empower indigenous farmers and artisans, Fair Trade provides great value.  As a mechanism to provide a living for American retailers in America, it fails because it’s not market-driven.  People tend to make Fair Trade purchases because of a sense of social justice, not because the impulse to buy is prompted by the quality or attractiveness of the product itself.  And why is this?  Because Fair Trade is too often regarded as a charity.  Fair Trade began in the NGO world, and it is stuck in the NGO world.  Even many of the stores that handle Fair Trade items (Ten Thousand Villages, for example) tend to be non-profits, utilizing volunteers behind the counters.  This is not the way American commerce works.  Nothing can succeed without market impetus and support.   It’s my contention that until Fair Trade proponents in this country can prosper as retailers, Fair Trade will continue to languish.  I believe Fair Trade’s inability to gain traction in the marketplace is due to a lack of availability of product and a lack of effective marketing. 

So, I see a real opportunity to expand a market and help people along the way.  I want to prove that a person can actually make a living (not a killing, just a living) selling Fair Trade goods.  I want to increase Fair Trade’s exposure to Main Street America.  I want to help create a market for Fair Trade goods, so that the social justice aspect of a purchase and the consumer satisfaction aspect of the purchase are equal.

My wife, Luz, and I have created a business called Fair Trade Express.   In addition to importing and selling Fair Trade products from Peru, we want to serve as a clearing house for anyone interested in Fair Trade products, Sweat Free products and products that reflect Environmental Sustainability.  Initially we will sell our products at festivals and farmers markets until we learn the business.  Then we hope to open a store in Long Beach.  If we’re successful, we want to help other socially conscious merchants replicate our experience.

Thanks to everyone for your thoughtful comments --- I tried my best to sum up the responses and continued the conversation here in part II:
http://fairtrade.change.org/blog/view/what_is_fair_trade_part_ii-_who_owns_fair_trade

Cheers, Shayna

Have you found it more difficult to support fair trade during this economic downturn?  Has the recession had an impact on your purchases of fair trade foods? 

I'm conducting research for my dissertation to discover whether fair trade consumers have been impacted by the current recession.  My research is from the perspective of the consumer and I have created a online survey which is in regards to consumers' experiences since the recession.  The survey should take under 5 minutes to fill out and the more responses I get the more accurate my findings will be.    You can access the survey by going to the link:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=_2bqrdhdddRlZZLY2_2fYeyhmg_3d_3d   
Without your input I will not be able to conduct my dissertation so I thank you in advance for your time in taking the survey.  Also, if you know of anyone who would be interested in taking the survey please send them on the link.  Thank you all again.