What Is Fair Trade?

• Fair Trade organizations seek “greater equity“ and sustainable income resource development among marginalized groups.
• Fair Trade organizations provide safe, non-exploitative, dignified working conditions for employees.
• Fair Trade organizations help develop small businesses, worker owned and democratically run associations and cooperatives that give producers a say in how their products are created and sold.
• Fair trade encourages and celebrates the diverse, rich cultural heritages of all peoples by promoting the development of products that represent this heritage.
• Fair trade organizations provide fair prices and a greater percentage return of the retail price of products to the producer. For further information, see the International Fair Trade Association
  

Some of Our Partners:

Hope for Women offers products made exclusively by women in India. FWM carries their pressed flower note and greeting cards. Hope for Women reports that "Each Fair Trade greeting card is made of handmade "tree-free" paper faced with real pressed wild flowers and native plantings from the foothills of the Himalayas."

Ganesh Himel Trading markets the products of artisans in Nepal. They "import directly from small cottage industries in Nepal, including development projects working to improve the lives of Tibetan refugees and women. Our goal has always been to support work that enhances people's lives and traditions. We work directly with the producers as a team, expanding each others' talents and ideas." FWM carries their jewelry, placemats, bags, and hand-made paper products (note-books, cards, etc.).