There are a lot of companies that have made a name for themselves in recent years
for becoming more ethical such as fair trade food and clothing but many people are unsure about what this means and have the misconception that because these items are fairtrade it may mean them costing more for us consumers. In reality there are many aspects to fairtrade and ethical trading that the public may not be aware of so below is a brief history of fairtrade practices and how they are helping people all over the world to thrive.
In the past many natural resources such as food items and cotton which forms the basis of many clothing items is farmed from countries such as South America, Africa and India and in the past the temptation for some companies has been to pay these farmers the least they can get away with which had led to exploitation of workers in these developing countries where low pay and care for employees resulted in poor conditions for the workers that the clothing industry in fact relied heavily upon.
The fair trade movement hasn't merely been about increasing the pay these workers receive, obviously they are now able to get paid a truly fair wage for their work but these fair trade organisations also invest heavily to help build communities by using money to construct homes, churches, schools and other important utilities such as safe drinking water which many people in the west take for granted but even this is a major concern in these countries.
There are many items and foods that are now classified as fair trade and these include clothing made from the fair trade cotton but also fruits, sugar, wine and many other items in the supermarket. Many fast food restaurants and cafes now use fair trade sourced coffee and tea which was one of the leading products that have earned the fair trade accreditation and now almost dominates the market.
Fair trade clothing is often combined with another ethical fashion item which is using organic materials, this means using cotton and other resources that have not been treated with artificial chemicals and products which people are not only having concerns about for resources such as cotton but also in their food as many modern genetically altered foods are becoming less popular with the public in general.
Purchase ethical fashion whether you are looking for women's or men's clothing to get great fashion items but with the added benefit of helping these fair trade initiatives too.