Fairtrade has slowly but surely gone mainstream over the past few years. And it delivers much more than a fair price to the makers and sellers who benefit from it. It's one of those rare concepts that is a genuine force for the common good, benefiting everyone involved right down the line. Here's how spending your hard-earned cash on fairtrade giftsand household goods helps make life better for all sorts of people. Yourself included.
In the bad old days a small business making, say, hand carved wooden bowls might have been paid peanuts by retail buyers. As a result they'd struggle constantly to keep their heads above water. Things like health and safety, employee welfare, good working conditions and decent wages would be way out of reach. So workers would struggle too, unable to provide quality food, basic education and comfortable, clean living conditions for their families. Life without the basics is pretty miserable for everyone concerned. The only winners were the big businesses who passed rock bottom prices on to us, and the end consumers who got great stuff for next to nothing.
These days there's an increasingly brisk trade in fair trade gifts, household items and everyday goods. Because makers and suppliers get a fair price for their goods they can improve manufacturing facilities, take safety and employee welfare into account and paying their people a decent living wage. So workers can feed their families properly, send their children to school and aspire to a better, more comfortable, safer future.
Fair trade ultimately delivers much more than better wages. Its effect cascades right through the chain. Yes, retail buyers have to spend a bit more to supply us with unusual, exciting products. And we sometimes have to spend a little more on them. But the more of us choose ethical goods, the more good we do. The more good we do, the better we feel about ourselves. The more of us engage with ethical shopping the bigger the demand, the lower the variable production costs and the lower the high street price.
As a fairtrade consumer you're doing your bit to drive a unique economic engine that's changing thousands - if not millions - of lives for the better, forever. The more of us buy fairly, the nicer life gets for more people. It's a trend that's worth joining. So hop on the ethical bandwagon and help spread the love!
You can find a great selection of fairtrade gifts at Green Tulip. Use the handy gift finder to quickly locate the ideal gift.
Article Source:http://EzineArticles.com/?expert
