Traidcraft is the organisation that pioneered Fairtrade in the UK. Established in 1979, we started out importing jute products from Bangladesh and quickly progressed to tea, coffee, chocolate and other foods.
Traidcraft was one of a group of organisations which started the Fairtrade Foundation so that an independent Fairtrade guarantee (the Fairtrade Mark) could assure shoppers that the product really is Fairtrade.
Today, we continue to fight poverty through trade in several different ways:
- we pioneer new areas of Fairtrade (most recently fair trade rubber for gloves, and charcoal)
- we run development projects to enable poor producers to work their own way out of poverty, through trade
- we prioritise work with the poorest, most marginalised groups to have the greatest possible impact on poverty
- we influence international trade rules to benefit the poor
- we influence UK businesses to be more responsible for their impact on poor people (e.g. through supermarket supply chains)
What's the difference between Fairtrade and Traidcraft?
Fairtrade is the concept of trading in such a way that the producer is guaranteed a fair price, decent working conditions and a premium payment to invest in community development. The Fairtrade Foundation is the organisation that oversees Fairtrade standards in the UK and promotes the Fairtrade Mark but they do not themselves sell any Fairtrade products.
Traidcraft is a particular fair trade company and charity which exists to fight poverty through trade. Traidcraft develops and sells a wide range of fair trade products in order to benefit producers in the developing world. As a dedicated fair trade organisation, Traidcraft is always trying to have the biggest possible impact on poverty through its work, seeking out particularly disadvantaged producer groups to work with and developing fair trade into new product areas.
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Read more about Traidcraft on our main website