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10:10;

Guest blogs by Frank and Faith and Tara Leaver, from Boutiko;

Happy Birthday Green & Blacks

Pop by, catch up with the news and don’t forget to say Hi and let me know what you think of the new look. 

Until then …………..

Don’t forget, we’ve moved to our brand-spanking-new-look blog!  There, you can find the most up to date posts, including:-

Important blog changes!

This blog is no more! The brand-spanking new Only Fair blog is now up and running. Hope you all approve and more importantly, that you continue to follow (and read!).

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.

Happy Holidays

Its been a bit quiet at Only Fair HQ with our annual holiday.  Normal service will resume shortly!

Fair Trade Beading Kits

I’m very excited to share with you these lovely beading kits that have hit our shelves.

Put together by Tara Projects,  they contain everything you need to make your own individual necklace.

The kit includes glass beads, clasps and thread thread, which can be made into a necklace as intended or even trimmed to make a bracelet (although you would have excess beads left over!).

They would make lovely stocking fillers, party bag fillers or a token gift for someone difficult to buy for (we all know someone that has ‘everything’!), not to mention fab gifts for those with a creative streak.

Available in 10 different colours.

You know where to find them!

Fair Trade Rucksacks and our Supplier, Mahaguthi

Our range of bright and fun rucksacks are back in stock!  Marketed towards children, does it really matter if you’re a wee bit older and still love them?  This lovely Turtle Rucksack has also joined the range.

The rucksacks are made by Mahaguthi, a fair trade organisation that produces, markets and exports Nepalese crafts.

Over 1,000 individual producers are supported by Mahaguthi, many of whom are from remote areas.

40% of the income generated provides women and children of the Tulsi Mehar Mahila Ashram Centre with food, clothing, healthcare and education. The centre was founded by the late Tulsi Mehar Mahila (who worked closely with Mahatma Ghandi), who implemented various programmes for the empowerment of women in Nepalese society, Nepalese society, the centre has living quarters, a small community hospital, production workshops, a kindergarten school and a children’s play area. The centre offers a free, 2 year training programme in weaving, sewing, knitting and literacy and has approximately 80 women each year in the programme.

You can find out more about Tulsi Mehar Mahila and the background behind Mahaguthi by visiting the website.

And finally, don’t forget, you can find the rucksacks on the website.

New Juice Pack Shoppers

 

 This is possibly the only time I’m not going to tell you to ditch the plastic!

These funky shoppers are new to Only Fair.  They are hand made from recycled juice packets by a fair trade women’s co-operative in the Philippines. The waste they are made from would otherwise go into landfill sites and incinerators and, of course, there’s always the chance they would just litter ths treets.  They are made from 100% foil and plastic packaging they easily wipe clean.  

As ever, you can find these on the website.

Winner of our Survey Announced!

Firstly, thanks to everyone that took the time to enter!  The results have proven interesting and extremely helpful.

More importantly – on to the winner!  The winner was picked using Random.Org which randomly, (now there’s a surprise!) picked the name from the emails entered.  So congratulations go to SARAH ARNOLD in SURREY.  Thanks for participating Sarah – your prize will be winging its way to you shortly.

Win a children’s fair trade rucksack!

One of our lovely Cat Rucksacks, worth £9.49, to be precise!

To be in with a chance of winning, all you have to do is click HERE and complete the short survey – just 10 questions!

The survey is open until 14th May – Good luck!

Monday Blues

Having been without internet access over the weekend (thanks to someone cutting through a fibre optic cable and thus cutting the access), I have a pile of things to do, including emails to reply to. So apologies if I’m a wee bit on the slow side and please bear with me!

Thought I’d just share this photo with you. It puts a smile on my face when I’m feeling grumpy and wondering if the sun will ever come out and shine. 

Have a great day!