Fair Trade Marketplaces
Information on fair trade global items
The following traders offer, through “fair trade practices,” handmade items from around the world.
Fair Trade Federation
This website lists members who are involved in selling goods through fair trade practices and includes wholesalers, producers, retail stores, and online and mail-order merchants. There are links to many Fair Trade Federation members and you can even search by area to see if there is a participating store in your area.
A Greater Gift: SERRV International
Phone: 1-800-422-5915
SERRV items were previously sold in the New York office of the United Church Board for World Ministries. The Greater Gift website features an extensive on-line catalog, or you can request a mail-order catalog. A Greater Gift is a program of SERRV International, a nonprofit alternative trade and development organization. Their mission is to promote the social and economic progress of people in developing regions of the world by marketing their products in a just and direct manner.
Ten Thousand Villages
Ten Thousand Villages is a not-for-profit, self-supporting Fair Trade Organization (FTO). FTOs are non-governmental organizations designed to benefit artisans, not to maximize profits. Ten Thousand Villages markets products from handicraft and agricultural organizations based in low-income countries, providing consumers with products that have been fairly purchased from sustainable sources.
Mountcastle International Trading Company
Mountcastle International Trading Company, imports folk art and ethnic handicrafts created in dozens of developing countries. They directly import these products from villagers and refugees and market these goods to wholesale and retail customers. They are active members in the Fair Trade Federation and the Crafts Center, institutions dedicated to improving the lives of low income artisans. These items are often made in small villages and refugee camps by people with little access to large markets for their products. Their work serves these artisans and helps preserve and sustain their folk art, an important part of our collective cultural heritage.