• Fair trade

Fair trade

This paper notes that Fair Trade has undergone exponential growth in recent years, largely because of the expansion of Fairtrade certified food products in mainstream distribution and retail channels. It argues that mainstreaming-as-product certification has provoked considerable controversy as many view the participation of mainstream food companies in the Fairtrade certification system as violating fair trade principles and jeopardising the market’s long term sustainability. They propose an alternative strategy for mainstreaming fair trade: through fair trade brands. They contend that Fair Trade brands are ‘at the cutting-edge of fair trade mainstreaming’ and ‘the most risk-free and successful way to mainstream’.

Drawing on existing research and the experiences of fair trade practitioners involved in mainstreaming fair trade, this paper explores why fair trade brands represent a superior approach to fair trade mainstreaming.

Key points include;

• fair trade brands are a particularly strong approach for pursuing the fair trade movement’s aims to alter the basis of power in favour of producers
• consumer knowledge about the added value that fair trade brands provide for producers over conventional companies selling Fairtrade products is crucial for building a critical consumer base in the context of increasing corporate entry into Fairtrade markets
• if the movement is not only to survive but also shape the current phase of ‘corporatisation’ to realise genuine achievement of its mission, it is important that fair trade brands become a key focus in fair trade research, capacity-building and public education/advocacy work

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