How To Market Products with Global Exchange

We purchase the majority of our products through wholesalers that are members of the Fair Trade Federation. We do import directly from Indonesia, Mexico, South Africa, Vietnam, and a few other countries.

We can only do this in places where there is a local nongovernmental crafts development organization that can help the small producer groups with product development, pricing, quality control, marketing, and shipping. Unfortunately, we cannot import directly from small producer groups in every country, because of the economy of scale.

We choose our trading partners/wholesalers by having them fill out a Vendor/Producer Questionnaire which asks a series of questions about:

  • how the group came to be,
  • how the group operates in terms of decision-making,
  • how the members are paid,
  • what other benefits they receive,
  • and what the relationship of the producer and the vendor is.

We also ask for a catalog of some type, which can just be a series of photos of products with a pricelist that includes size and color options, as well as information about shipping options.

THEN we review them as a department and evaluate:

  1. Whether or not it is a Fair Trade group
  2. Whether or not we think we can sell the merchandise
Each of the stores then does their own buying independently. Please ask the stores directly if you need a copy of the Vendor/Producer Questionnaire.

We use criteria outlined by the Fair Trade Federation, a national alliance of wholesalers, retailers and allied groups involved in Fair Trade. The criteria include:

  • Paying a fair wage in the local context.
  • Offering employees opportunities for advancement.
  • Providing equal employment opportunities for all people.
  • Engaging in environmentally sustainable practices.
  • Being open to public accountability.
  • Building long-term trade relationships.
  • Providing healthy and safe working conditions within the local context.
  • Providing financial and technical assistance to producers whenever possible.

We focus on the retail side in order to be in direct contact with and to educate the public about Fair Trade. Therefore we do not have the capacity to do direct consulting or development with crafts groups around the world. About once a year we take direct buying trips to increase the amount of direct purchases that we do, but these are not development/consulting trips. Check out our resources page for organizations that assist in developing artisan products and markets.

We wish you the best of luck in finding Fair Trade markets for your products!!