Recession and Fair Trade

The Capital Times of Madison (WI) reports that local start-up businesses focusing on Fair Trade are experiencing a downturn with the current recession--just like other businesses.

That story rings true in Syracuse, too. Fair World Marketplace has felt the effect--last year from eight months of road construction in front of our store, followed by a retail downturn in December continuing so far this year. Like folks in Madison, an e-mail campaign by our supporters in February rallied sales briefly.

We've cut advertising to save costs and slowed reorders to keep our payroll intact. We hope our customers will understand if new products appear more slowly while the recession lasts. We know that many of you are feeling the pinch too!

Just Coffee documentary

Just Coffee documents the damage of collapsing coffee prices from 1998-2005 on coffee producers. It describes the different kind of social certifications placed on coffee products, including the Fair Trade label. It also surveys challenges for both producers and consumers in complying with and finding fair trade and other certified coffees.

Though coffee prices, along with other commodities, spiked in March, they have fallen again. Coffee prices have never returned to 1998 levels.

Google Earth Fair Trade

Autonomieproject points out that many fair trade co-ops have been entered on Google Earth. In Google Earth, click on "Fair Trade Certified" under the Global Awareness subset, then click on the icons that appear on the globe to see information about individual co-ops.

Our Partners

New on the FWM website is a page listing some of our partners who develop and wholesale fair trade products from various parts of the world. It also indicates which of their products we carry.

In this space, we'll occasionally profile some of these organizations and the artisans they work with. Today I want to introduce two:

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.).

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."

Fair Trade Federation Conference

Maurine is at the 2008 Fair Trade Federation Conference in Austin, TX this week-end. Fair World Marketplace is proud to be have been accepted last year as a member of the Fair Trade Federation, which certifies businesses as adhering to fair trade principles and practices.