Guest Blog – Sally Reith at Shared Interest

This is our first guest blogger post.  Kicking off our new feature is Sally Reith from Shared Interest.

I am a keen fair trade supporter and I am the South East Supporter Relations Officer for Shared Interest, the world’s only 100% fair trade lender. With more than 8,700 UK members investing anything from £100 to £20,000, Shared Interest is able to pool these funds and help developing countries trade their way out of poverty.

On my recent summer holiday I decided to follow what some have termed the latest trend of the recession, the ‘staycation’. Combining some travel around the UK with visits to friends and family I was able earn some free accommodation in exchange for some interesting conversation and the odd bottle of wine (Fairtrade wine preferred!). Visits to my Grandma always prove to be interesting with her tales of her childhood and on this visit I was not disappointed. She told me about the resourcefulness of her mother who would buy jumpers from the charity shop, unravel the garment, wash and stretch the wool and then knit something new for them to wear. This reminded me of the knitting lessons grandma had given me as a child and my recent re-interest in this crafty skill. Having re-taught myself the art of casting on and casting off I am now the proud owner of a hand knitted ‘fair trade’ scarf. The wool is fairly traded and the colours of the stripes are as close a match to the green and blue of the Fairtrade mark. It compliments my Fairtrade banana costume perfectly!

Having regaled my family and friends, and even some strangers, with the story of my Fairtrade scarf I got thinking about how far the movement has come when you can go into a department store on the high street and buy balls of fairly traded wool. I began to think of the number of Fairtrade products available, over 3,000 according to The Fairtrade Foundation, the number of organisations involved in fair trade, supporters of fair trade, the concept of fair trade towns, universities, heritage sites – Hadrian’s Wall is aiming for fair trade status. Since beginning my role with Shared Interest I have been drawn further into this powerful movement and my eyes have been opened to the size and scale of its success but also the challenges ahead and the increasing demand for fair trade from both consumers and producers.

With the ‘big names’ like Cadbury and Starbucks realising the importance of fair trade, whatever your view as to their motives in my view where it is the producers who are directly benefitting this can only be a positive thing for the fair trade movement as a whole, it is becoming increasingly accessible as a ‘mainstream’ option. However, should it not be the ONLY option? Shouldn’t all trade be fair? Organisations who have always been founded on principles of fair trade and trade justice, such as Traidcraft, Divine, People Tree and Shared Interest have been working to support this movement for a number of years, believe it or not Traidcraft are thirty this year and Shared Interest will be twenty next year. It is a fantastic achievement that these organisations have been working with fair trade producers, businesses and customers to challenge existing trade practices which, as we know them, are not fair. Price wars, BOGOF’s and special offers affect producers at home as well as those in less developed places.

Thank you for supporting fair trade. Thank you for working TOGETHER with those who have something to offer and buying it for something worth paying. Thank you for talking about fair trade to your friends and family to help make all trade fair trade.

Many thanks to Sally for her post. I’d love to hear your comments on our new feature. 

If you would like to take part with a guest blog post, please email sales@onlyfair.co.uk. You can find the guidelines by clicking here.