This shop is run by a company called Ethictrade. Ethictrade is a business founded with the aim of raising money for charities on the principles of fair trade. The key objective of Ethictrade is to boost fundraising at a time when charitable giving is being hit hard by the economic climate. Our underlying ethos is ethical trade, which we believe helps marginalized producers out of poverty through the development of a sustainable livelihood.

Here’s the idea: most charities don’t have the time or resources to run an online shop, yet it has the potential to raise essential funds for their projects. So Ethictrade does it on their behalf, creating for them a fully-branded online shop and giving to the charity 20% of all pre-vat sales made. Absolutely fundamental to the concept is that there is no charge for the provision of this service – we want the funds raised to go straight to the amazing work done by the charity. This is achieved without artificially ‘hiking’ the prices of the products sold – the 20% comes out of Ethictrade’s margin.

Our Products

As for the 700+ products sold in the shop, we believe fair trade should be the norm, not the exception. We work in partnership with UK importers to ensure that all products offered fit closely within our ethical policy. This is in place to ensure that all the producers of goods we sell have received fair payment for their craftsmanship and labour; that no child exploitation, human trafficking or other exploitative practice is being wholly or partially supported through products in the shop; that the products have been manufactured in an environmentally conscious way or that the manufacture of the products helps support low-employment or under-privileged communities in the UK or other parts of the world.

In addition to these assurances, we believe it is important that an ethical product should be something that the customer really wants: in effect, something that they would have bought anyway, rather than a so-called ‘pity purchase’. Part of our mission is to spread the good news about fair trade, and demonstrate that you can get beautifully made, high-quality, desirable and ethical products at a good price. The market is starting to move beyond the days where the ethical consumer’s choice was between salad servers or a gaudy waistcoat, and we feel very much part of that zeitgeist. Products on the e-shop are designed to cater to a wide range of tastes, ages and budgets.

If a charity supporter can shop online for something they’d like without paying a premium, whilst at the same time funding the great work of their charity and supporting producers in developing countries....well why wouldn’t they?!”