'Fair Trade'!!! Really?

Rachel Watkyn set up Tiny Difference as a 'fair trade' contemporary jewellery company a little over a year ago. Rachels fair trade ethos is simple; All workshops she uses in Africa (there's 3 of them) and Thailand are all IFAT registered, meaning that the workers get a fair wage, she researched the areas extensively and her Tiny Difference company promises of giving 20% of it's profits back to the poorer areas thus helping them grow perhaps is maybe taking the Fair Trade thing a bit far. But that makes this ethical superwoman stand out just a little bit more.

Fair trade, as she sees it is just that... but what exactly makes a product or item
fair trade?

We thought it was simple; good working conditions, a fair wage and, well that's about the all of it. At the moment it's foodstuffs that actually have an official Fair Trade 'governing' body, that's why you see the coffee etc labelled with Fair Trade packaging. But now other sectors are moving in on this selling point! Just look around on your journey today and see... Ask yourself this though, "Are these other items really Fair Trade?", and how can you really tell, looking past a sticker or the word of the store worker who will use this to pull on your heart strings and send you on a mini guilt trip as part of their selling tools.

We ask you to beware and maybe ask for a bit more proof...

The reason we are posting this is this: Two days ago Rachel ran into the 'Tiny' offices all excited... She had just been on the receiving end of a 'fair trade' sales push. A lady in a shop selling her 'fair trade' soap!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now we know that today, soaps are made from fats and oils that react with lye (sodium hydroxide). Solid fats like coconut oil, palm oil, tallow (rendered beef fat), or lard (rendered pork fat), are used to form bars of soap that stay hard and resist dissolving in the water left in the soap dish.

So the coconut oil etc... may just have come from someone who actually does use fair trade conditions but where is the proof????

Until we have a proper 'Fair Trade' body overseeing just how and when this term can be used, at present it is ONLY used officially for foodstuffs, then we at Tiny Difference suggest using the age old adage when you see anything 'fair trade' for sale; Buyer Beware!



Christian