Transform Trade

First of all, what is 'Fair Trade'

Fair trade seeks to transform the lives of poor producers in the developing world by enabling them to use their skills and resources to trade their way out of poverty. It seeks to challenge injustices in trading structures and practices that so often lead to the exploitation and marginalisation of poor people. To help consumers know which products have reached this criteria, over ten years ago, Traidcraft helped establish the Fairtrade Foundation which sets the standard and licences the use of their logo – the Fairtrade Mark, which is a registered certification label for products sourced from producers in developing countries.

Members can use the Fairtrade Mark on their goods which meet the following standard:

• A fair price which covers the cost of sustainable production
• An extra premium to invest in community projects
• Defined standards for the health, and social and economic welfare, of producers
• Defined standards for the protection of the environment

The Fairtrade Mark is only available on certain products which have internationally-agreed Fairtrade standards and most products carrying the Fairtrade Mark are food or cotton. Many of Traidcraft's food and cotton products have the Fairtrade logo on their packaging.

Now that goods with the Fairtrade Mark are on sale in every supermarket and many high street shops, you may wonder if it makes any difference to the producers which ones you buy.

Transform Trade is an organisation whose mission is to campaign in the UK and also Europe to make trade more people centered – a different way of thinking about trade and business. The charity believes in fair trade – and as an organisation their roots are in the alternative and fair trade movement. It is a member of the World Fair Trade Organisation (WFTO) and were founders of the Fairtrade Foundation in the UK. However, they also want to look beyond fair trade at the structures and systems which regulate all trade. People centred trade is an aspiration not a certification. They believe there is a difference between businesses which attempt to practice justice in all they do, and profit driven multinationals which licence only a few products with the Fairtrade Mark.

More information on the work of Transform Trade can be found here