Do you buy fair trade?

[Mitch]

Fair trade is a strategy for poverty alleviation and sustainable development. Its purpose is to create opportunities for producers who have been economically disadvantaged or marginalized by the conventional trading system.
Source: http://www.tenthousandvillages.ca/cgi-bin/category.cgi?type=store&item=pageZAAAB93&template=fullpage-en&category=fairtrade

Fair trade, one thing that I think the whole world should get involved in. Fair trade helps producers in third world countries get FAIR prices for their goods. Ten Thousand Villages (http://www.tenthousandvillages.ca/) is my favorite store, they have great gifts and food, for a good price, to a good cause. Ten Thousand Villages is a non-profit organization, therefore, all the profits go back to the producer of that particular product.

Do you buy fair trade? Why or why not?

[Horus]

Do you buy fair trade? Why or why not?

I do where I can; I find that most of the fair trade things are things I don't buy though (coffee, tea, etc). I can't be sure of the actual benefits of this agreement and where the money goes (as is the additional pitfalls of giving to charity, for example) so I'm somewhat unsure.

I never notice a taste difference, and that's what the general public are looking for. Unfortunately, 99 percent of the public want what tastes good and is cheap, so the slightly more expensive fair trade stuff is generally discarded in favour of the giant brands with the smaller profit margins for high sales.

[Lunar_fantasies]

Yes, i don't really need to buy anything that isn't and if i do its always second hand, Buying fair trade is a great way to support workers getting paid living wages. The greater the demand for fair trade will force corporation to produce fair trade. Personally i prefer to support cooperatives. But any alternatives are something that are good to support.

Here are some ways to avoid supporting sweatshops

For nice clothes there are always second hand stores.

For my shoes i either get them second hand or from the internet
(getting nice second hand shoes is hard especially if you don't wear animals)
Skateboarding shoes, work boots, fancy shoes, running shoes etc.. all at the following sites.
http://www.downbound.com/aboutus_a/135.htm
http://www.vegetarian-shoes.co.uk/default.aspx
http://www.shophumanitaire.com/
http://nosweatapparel.com/

For tea and coffee , if you live in Calgary .. Higher ground (in kensignton across from the plaza theater) has only fair trade coffee and tea. Also the vitamin farm in td mall has only fair trade tea and coffee. All the health food stores i know carries a wide selection of fair trade tea and coffee.

as for banana's and other fruits and veggies . Sunnyside health food store, Planet organic, community natural foods. All have fair trade fruit.

For electronics. i can't find anything other than pawn shops.

Ten thousand villages is awesome for random things like gift paper.

Dumpster diving is free if your into that. you would be surprised how many really nice couches are left in alley ways as trash. My friends got a really nice red and golden luxurious velvet couch i got a really nice and clean faux-leather couch. What is one persons trash can be someone else's art project, furnisher, meal.

For what ever else there is, the wonderful internet has not let me down yet.

:)happy fair trade shopping:)

To make this a community thing have a clothing exchange with your friends. Its fun and you get really awesome stuff for free.

[Mitch]

Great idea! :D
I try and shop fair trade as much as I can. I don't like second hand clothing too much, but I give mine away and usually buy it fair trade or from MEC.
I just got a sweatshirt form http://www.justshirts.ca and it's very comfy :)
Also, Kicking Horse Coffee and Happy Planet (same company) are great. My work sells these coffees and apparently they're great (I don't drink coffee).

[Lunar_fantasies]

Here is a good site for references to other sites that have sweat-shop free clothing


http://www.sweatshopwatch.org/index.php?s=59

[Mitch]

Very nice links you have here. Stickied!

[Fishoutofwater]

I would say that if I were to mistrust any group, it would be the large corporate capitalist retailers and manufacturers who have been known to exploit workers, particularly in third world countries. Thanks Lunar_Fantasies for this extensive list of fair trade operators. Keep them coming!

[eharvester]

I'm a free trader. The free trade governments talk about now is not free trade, it's managed trade, to benefit corporations. You don't need a treaty for free trade, you just let it happen.

Fair Trade is protectionism, it's a form of economic isolationism. The third world countries you speak of are poor because of their corrupt governments, not because they can't do it on their own.

[Cattraknoff]

I'm a free trader. The free trade governments talk about now is not free trade, it's managed trade, to benefit corporations. You don't need a treaty for free trade, you just let it happen.

Fair Trade is protectionism, it's a form of economic isolationism. The third world countries you speak of are poor because of their corrupt governments, not because they can't do it on their own.

And our own governments have absolutely nothing to do with them being corrupt.

[Mitch]

And our own governments have absolutely nothing to do with them being corrupt.
Of course not. They are definitely not supplying weaponry to many countries
OK, enough with that sarcasm.
Fair trade has nothing to do with government. It has to do with large, multi-national corporations taking advantage of the poor countries, paying almost nothing for them to do anything.
Fair trade tries to stop these multinationals by offering these people in the third world the same wages as those people in the first world.

[Cattraknoff]

Of course not. They are definitely not supplying weaponry to many countries
OK, enough with that sarcasm.
Fair trade has nothing to do with government. It has to do with large, multi-national corporations taking advantage of the poor countries, paying almost nothing for them to do anything.
Fair trade tries to stop these multinationals by offering these people in the third world the same wages as those people in the first world.

And our governments should never be given the power to keep corporations in line. That would be unthinkable. Societies based on selfishness and greed are bound to be more moral.

[Mitch]

lol, you like making sarcastic posts don't you.

[Cattraknoff]

lol, you like making sarcastic posts don't you.

Nonsense, I strongly believe that our societies' current doctrine of going with the most idiotic and reckless course of action is going to benefit the entire human race.