How Fair Trade Began - A Brief History

There are so many individuals and organizations that took part in the creation of Fair Trade that it's difficult to get a clear handle on it's beginnings. One thing is clear though: Edna Ruth Byler sparked the movement as a church volunteer in Pennsylvania. After she returned from a trip to Puerto Rico and saw impoverished seamstresses, she was inspired to sell their products back in her hometown as a way for the seamstresses to transfer their talents into an honest living. Ten Thousand Villages, SERVV and Equal Exchange are the three most important companies that played a role in the start of the movement that supports farmers and artisans around the world.
Ten Thousand Villages is on the most foremost key player in the Fair Trade movement and still is today. Paul Myers, recent CEO of Ten Thousand Villages stated: "From the beginning, we've been interested in the grassroots and the small producer. We are concerned with ordinary people in small places who have limited opportunity. We believe 'small is still beautiful.'"
SERVV was another major player in the beginning and continues to sell handicrafts to this day. Cheryl Musch, director of International Development said: "We are focused on capacity buildingâEUR¦ Our goal is to help producer groups become more independent by helping them get the training and tools they need to grow. In an ideal world, these groups would grow beyond SERRV, and could enter the commercial market, which is much larger than the Fair Trade market, in the future. Then we can move on to another goup on greater need."
Equal Exchange is one of the biggest leader in fairly traded grocery items, especially chocolate, tea and coffee. Rodney North, worker-owner at Equal Exchange Co-op stated: "When [Equal Exchange] founders set out to create an enterprise that would maximize social contribution, not profits, they custom built Equal Exchange to support this mission - with attention to capital structure, bylaws, personnel policies, and so forth."
Clearly, these three organizations were the main founders of the Fair Trade Movement. What Mrs. Byler started from her church basement turned into a new type of retail in today's market, giving consumers a chance to shop in coordination with their ideals. Now that you know about Fair Trade, what will you choose? You can find anything you might want from tea, coffee and snacks to home goods. Every purchase counts, no matter how great or small, so shop smartly today!