Best Buy Future Shop has partnered in a business venture with Global Crafts – a member of the Fair Trade Federation and the World Fair Trade Organization. The Fair Trade Federation strengthens and promotes North American organizations fully committed to fair trade. The Federation is part of the global fair trade movement, building equitable and sustainable trading partnerships and creating opportunities to alleviate poverty. The World Fair Trade Organization’s mission is to enable producers to improve their livelihoods and communities through fair trade.
Fair trade is an approach to business, and to development, based on dialogue, transparency, and respect that seeks to create greater equity in the international trading system. Fair trade organizations put artisans and farmers at the heart of every decision they make.
While fair wages are critical, fair trade is more than simply paying a fair price to a producer for a product. Fair trade is about building long-term business relationships with artisans and farmers, enabling them to improve their quality of life. Fair trade organizations provide interest-free loans and advances, use their resources to build capacity in producer groups, and work to protect the environment and the culture of the communities they interact with. Fair trade is not a charity; rather, fair trade offers opportunities for impoverished artisans and farmers to lift themselves and their communities out of poverty.
Members of the Fair Trade Federation commit to nine principles for fair trade:
- Create Opportunities for Economically and Socially Marginalized Producers
- Develop Transparent and Accountable Relationships
- Build Capacity
- Promote Fair Trade
- Pay Promptly and Fairly
- Support Safe and Empowering Working Conditions
- Ensure the Rights of Children
- Cultivate Environmental Stewardship
- Respect Cultural Identity
One of the Global Crafts products sold by Best Buy is the Fair Trade Cut Out Flower Tire Bag. Giving discarded tyres and tubes a new life, the artisans of Conserve India source and clean the rubber and turn it into a functional stylish bag with bright red floral design cutouts.
