How to Buy Handicrafts From Third World Entrepreneurs
Artisans in third world countries make handmade products of all kinds. Today more and more of them are able to market their creations to consumers in wealthier nations through “Fair Trade” organizations and networks. The idea of fair trade marketing is simple: organizations (usually non-profit) bypass traditional middlemen and unscrupulous dealers and employers and pay artisans to receive a fair price for their work. The fair trade movement is growing rapidly (global growth in 2007 was 4.7%). Fair trade is revolutionizing international trade in handmade goods as well as promoting individual entrepreneurship in countries where starting a small business was impossible just a few years ago. If you want clothing, house wares or decorative items for yourself or as gifts, here’s how to buy handicrafts from third world entrepreneurs that are marketed under fair trade guidelines.
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Instructions
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Understand how fair trade works to enable you to buy handicrafts from third world entrepreneurs. Beginning in the late 1940s a missionary organization started buying handcrafted items from villagers and then marketing them in the United States. The artisans were guaranteed 50% of the sale price and, to facilitate their work, the items were bought outright, not on consignment. Today, this is still the basic system used by fair trade networks. A number of organizations have grown up that establish ground rules and certify that a product is manufactured and marketed according to fair trade guidelines. This makes it much easier for you to be sure that an item you buy is indeed a fair trade product. For more information about certified fair trade goods, check the TransFairUSA website (the link is at the end of this article).
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Decide if you want to shop in person or online. There are fair trade shops in most medium and large US cities. The largest network of shops is Ten Thousand Villages (this is the organization that started the fair trade idea). You can go to their website (link below) and use their search engine to find a shop near you.
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Shop online if you cannot find a fair-trade shop near you. There are many online fair trade shopping sites. There are links to three of these below. Worldcrafts supports entrepreneurs in 37 countries around the world as part of a wide-ranging program that includes education, aid to families and financing entrepreneurs. Mercado Global is a similar organization and has an equally wide variety of products for you to choose from. The Emancipation Network markets handcrafted items made by rescued survivors of human trafficking (slavery) as part of its program to help them recover and rebuild their lives.
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Ask conventional businesses what product lines they carry that are fair trade. An increasing number of businesses are choosing to go the fair trade route when they can. For example, Caribou Coffee and Starbucks both now feature fair trade coffees as part of their menus.
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