07 Jan Traidcraft
**January 2023 ~
Traidcraft, one of the Fairtrade Foundation’s founding members, has now sadly gone into Administration ~ more news as it becomes available **
We would also encourage you to buy presents and provisions from Traidcraft, the Fairtrade pioneer. As many of you will know the business made losses last year and has had to agree a rescue plan which involves slimming the company down. The big concern is for producers who have only got access to market through Traidcraft. Some 700 women in India, for example, are employed making hand-stitched cards.
Traidcraft is proposing to focus on a core range of grocery products such as tea, coffee, and lavatory paper, and fewer handicrafts. The rescue plan, which was put forward by a group of staff last month, sets out a proposal for a membership scheme for customers, which will encourage people to get together to buy products to save money on delivery and cut down on packaging waste.
The chief executive, Robin Roth has said: “We are looking to tailor our offer to make sure we make available large sizes of coffee and rice and sugar, and other products for people to buy in groups and share out. If you look at the moment at the cost in food miles and packaging to deliver one bar of chocolate to one person, its just good stewardship of our resources. If people can be encouraged to buy together, through a membership scheme, then we can lower our prices.”
The plan also promises to continue to challenge the conventional market by adopting a more radical approach to labelling, and ensure that all its products have a cost breakdown that shows customers how much money has gone to the producer. This is part of a new commitment to greater transparency, inspired by feedback from younger people who said that they admired Traidcraft, but wanted more accountability and transparency.
Robin Roth, has promised: “We will fully inform customers where their money goes, to make their decision on what to buy easier. We will be honest about the price of a fairtrade cup of coffee, and a non-fairtrade cup of coffee.”
If you think you could be someone who makes an order in the Keswick area on behalf of others and then organise the distribution of the goods, please let us know.
Keswick Fair Trade Campaign
Tel: 0191 491 0855