25 February – 10 March:
Fairtrade Fortnight
The impact Fairtrade Fortnight has in making trade fairer depends on people across the UK getting involved, so we need you to spread the message: She Deserves a Living Income. There are many ways to deliver this serious message in an accessible way. We’re launching a new ongoing campaign for living incomes with a petition to the UK government at Fairtrade Fortnight too, which along with buying more Fairtrade chocolate is the main action we need your support with this year. For more ideas and information see:http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/get%20involved//Current-campaigns/Fairtrade-Fortnight
One of the simplest ways to support cocoa farmers around the world, is by buying Fairtrade chocolate and cocoa. While this doesn’t immediately solve all the issues, keeping up the demand allows farmers to sell more of their cocoa on Fairtrade terms thus increasing their income. Start planning now for a truly fair and just Easter celebrations by ensuring that all our chocolate and other products are fairtraded, sharing the risen freedom from bondage with farmers around the world. When we reach for our favourite food and drink each day without thinking about where it comes from, we may be feeding exploitation. We become part of the problem. Buying Fairtrad
e products in local stores and supermarkets will encourage businesses to stock them and raises their profile in our community, especially as Hitchin became a fairtrade town in 2005. For a list of other fairtade products available in the UK, see: http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/Buying-Fairtrade and be inspired and inspiring!
Traidcraft Exchange: One Happy Monkey!
Fantastic news for you. PG Tips – the UK’s most popular tea brand – has published their supplier list in Assam and around the world (http://news.trust.org/item/20190129185642-6mrxz/). What’s more, their owner Unilever has revealed tea estates supplying Lipton and their other tea brands in the UK and Ireland.
This is huge – it means two out of three cups of tea drunk in the UK come from a company that is transparent about where they source their tea.
When we launched the campaign eight months ago, we couldn’t image we’d get here. Secrecy was rife in the tea industry, and we knew that taking on the biggest tea brands was going to be a big challenge.
But then, thousands of people like you got involved. You heard about the tea workers in Assam who are trapped in poverty. And you asked the brands for change by posing a simple question: ‘Who picked my tea?’.
After a month, we teamed up with anti-slavery organisation Freedom United and the campaign went global. With more and more people joining the call, the pressure was growing and before Christmas four of the brands had published.
But the biggest one, PG Tips, kept avoiding our question.
So, this week we planned to launch a new action, using the famous Monkey character from their TV ads. I was going to share the action with you in this email – but the threat of more public pressure clearly prompted PG Tips to act. So now, we’ve turned the Monkey into a happy one!
This is a moment worth celebrating. It marks a shift in our campaign for transparency and a step towards better conditions for tea workers in Assam. Thank you for being part of it.
Now, we’ve just got one of the ‘Big Six’ brands left to convince: Typhoo. We’ve already started to prepare some exciting actions – so watch this space for the next steps in the campaign!
And lastly, if you’d like to congratulate PG Tips for publishing, here’s their email address: unilevercustomercare@unileverconsumerlink.co.uk.
There are a number of Traidcraft items still left for sale. If you see anything in
the listing below that you would like to purchase
for yourself or as a gift, please contact frances.chamberlain@n
(Click on the item images to see a larger photo)
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Key ring bowls Large: £10.00 Small: £5.00 |
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Wire bird: £2.50 Papier mache bowl: £4.50 Golden coasters in box: £9.00 |
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Purple candle: £6.00 Three Swazi candles: £6.00 Hanging eggs: £2.50 Bracelets: various |
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Flower crosses: £3.50 Red coasters: £7 |
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Baskets with handles Large: £6.00 Small: £4.00 |
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Nativity items
Finger puppets: £5.00 |
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Storage basket: £9.00 |
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Scarves: £5.00 – 7.00 |
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Cotton Throw: £25.00 (150cm x 225cm) |
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Crib: £25.00 |
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Noah’s Ark: £20.00 |
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Tunic: £8.00 (length 29″, chest 34″) |
LATEST NEWS FROM TRAIDCRAFT
Traidcraft is so intimately entwined in the Fair Trade movement that it’s hard to imagine there is anything left for us to do. We helped write the standards that underpin it and helped co-found most of the institutions that we now associate with Fair Trade – including the Fairtrade Foundation itself. Just one of the many things we did was to help write the international definition of Fair Trade: “…a trading relationship based on dialogue, transparency and respect…”
Many staff will be leaving us but 12 permanent jobs remain. Despite this, the staff have stayed to support us during this Christmas period and we are very grateful for their loyalty.
It is difficult to accept that we will be unable continue trading with many long term producers but hope that Traidcraft Exchange (a companion company which deals directly with the producers) will be able to help wherever possible.
What this means for you:
Key product ranges we will be taking forward include: tea, coffee, biscuits, sugar, chocolate, sweets, honey & spreads, muesli, oil, fish and pasta. Household items such as soap, tissue range and gloves will continue although some Clean and Fair products are out of stock.
NOTE: There is a supply problem with GINGER COOKIES at present due to packaging issues. There are plans to reintroduce them as soon as possible.
GEOBARS are NOT on the list which Traidcraft is taking forward.
We will continue to stock products from other companies that complement the Traidcraft grocery range including; Divine, Meaningful Chocolate Company, CaféDirect, Zaytoun, Liberation, Fish4Ever, Calypso, Kilombero Rice and Bio-D. While selecting the products, we are also reassessing how we are able to sell these products to you with the discounts you’re used to, whilst being commercially viable. It is expensive for us to pick, pack and send out one chocolate bar to you. We know not all of you are able to buy a case, so we will be looking at what a ‘single’ could be; in the future we encourage you to buy together where you can and buy the case.
We will be continuing with Christmas and seasonal products such as Cards, Homewares, Fashion and Accessories into next year.
During the Spring/Summer ‘19 season we will continue to sell through the craft items that we have in stock. Our new model will not import craft products directly from producers, however we aim to start building a range from carefully selected partners who have imported products in time for the Autumn ‘19 season.
Lastly, Eat Your Hat. Whilst not intended for the Fair Trader market it has done very well in its first year of production. The team are determined to fight for the survival and success of Eat Your Hat