Fair Trade Goods

Fair Trade Goods and Fair Trade Gifts are often presented as a fair way to help banana growers. The term Shop Fair Trade describes a system of commerce that promotes a sustainable environment, labor rights, a good wage and healthy working conditions for laborers as well as their families and communities. Often trading in products from developing countries, advocates of fair trade believe it’s an ethical alternative to other, more exploitative forms of capitalism. Consumers are willing to pay more for goods produced in a fair and less exploitative manner. However, questions remain about fair trade and the observance of fair labour practices. Typically, fair-trade goods like coffee and tea are produced in the developing world and sold to consumers in developed nations. Shop for Change aims to capitalize on a growing market of middle- and upper-class Indians who have the extra disposable income to pay higher prices for goods and who — it hopes — will feel compelled to help farmers struggling just a train ride away. Fair trade first entered the global marketplace in the 1940s through the efforts of religious groups like the Mennonite community and a handful of non-governmental organizations. At the beginning, most of the goods traded were handicrafts, artwork and other non-perishables sold in specialty shops and at church functions.