A movement built to pay artisans in poorer countries a fair, direct price for handicrafts a middleman market had left underpriced. Ten Thousand Villages, then a Mennonite Central Committee project called Self Help Crafts, began buying and reselling jute goods and cross-stitch work through churches and fairs in 1946; SERRV International followed with a similar mission in 1949, and Oxfam's United Kingdom shops began selling handicrafts made by Chinese refugees before the decade was out. The scattered network of importers and retailers this founded formalized itself as the Fair Trade Federation in 1994, the North American association that still certifies fair trade wholesalers and shops. Alongside the World Crafts Council's own mission to sustain traditional craft economies, the movement treats a handmade object's price as a statement about the maker's life, not only the object's quality. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Facts
Origin1946: Ten Thousand Villages (then Self Help Crafts) begins reselling handicrafts from developing-world artisans. 1949: SERRV International follows. 1994: the Fair Trade Federation forms as the North American trade association. 1 FAQs
What was the first fair trade craft organization?
Ten Thousand Villages, begun in 1946 as a Mennonite project called Self Help Crafts.
The first organization was Ten Thousand Villages, begun in 1946 as a Mennonite Central Committee project called Self Help Crafts, buying and reselling jute goods and cross-stitch work through churches and fairs. SERRV International followed with a similar mission in 1949. The scattered network of importers and retailers this founded formalized as the Fair Trade Federation in 1994, the North American association that still certifies fair trade wholesalers and shops.
Connections
Associated With
Source Fair Trade (Wikipedia)
Sources
1. Fair Trade (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundationen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_tradeQuote, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_trade
Ten Thousand Villages, an NGO within the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), and SERRV International were the first, in 1946 and 1949 respectively, to develop fair trade supply chains in developing countries.
View the Source History (Ten Thousand Villages)
Ten Thousand VillagesThe Beginnings section of the Ten Thousand Villages history pageQuote, The Beginnings section of the Ten Thousand Villages history page
In 1946, when Byler traveled with her husband to Puerto Rico, she met women in La Plata Valley who were struggling to feed their children.
View the Source Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.