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About Fair Trade for All
We are a family-owned, specialty shop featuring unique gifts, clothing, jewelry, home décor, coffee, chocolate and more from over 40 developing countries. We aim to advocate for amazingly talented artisans who aren’t in the position to advocate on their own behalf. The items in our shop are beautiful and all handcrafted by small producer groups or individual artisans who are paid a living wage for their labor under safe working conditions. This living wage allows them to meet basic needs such as clean water, education, medical care, etc. Fair trade also helps defeat the problems of human trafficking, forced child labor, slavery and illegal immigration. We believe that if we change the way we make our purchases, we can help make the world a better place!
Where do our products come from?
We purchase most of the products you see in our shop and website from members of the Fair Trade Federation. Look for this logo on the tags you see in our shop. We choose to support local and regional fair trade vendors first! The items you see in our shop that come from Ecuador, Peru, Columbia, Bolivia, Mexico, Nepal, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Kenya and Uganda have been purchased from our vendor friends that live in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Illinois but work with artisans in those countries. We maintain long term, trusting relationships with these vendors so that they can do the same with the artisan groups in those countries.
We partner with several non-profit fair trade organizations as well. The largest of these include SERRV and Ten Thousand Villages, both of whom have been in existence since the 1940s and work with hundreds of artisan groups around the world. We also support smaller non-profit groups and church organizations in order to create a marketplace for the items that result from their missions as well.
To learn more about fair trade, visit our website at www.fairtradeforall.net or sign up for one of our “Fair Trade 101” Store tours at either location.
What kind of products and gifts can you find in our shop?
Our line of products includes clothing for men, women and children, clothing accessories, silver jewelry, eco-friendly jewelry, fashion jewelry, hats, hand bags, purses, ethinic musical instruments, home decor, sculptures, christmas ornaments, nativities, holiday decorations, textiles, games, puzzles, toys, organic coffee, chocolate, tea and snacks, and many more.
Our story:
Allen Christian, from North Africa and Gail Bennett met while living in Asia in the 1990s. Before they met, Allen had the “opportunity” to work in a sweat factory during some tough times while living abroad. These experiences were shocking to him. As he became interested in the situations of others around the world, he learned of many people who were unable to support themselves due to religious and other forms of persecution. Having read a passage in Isaiah 58, he felt a burden to do something to help the poor. He wanted to start a business where he could help people learn to support themselves through a trade. Allen, Gail & their son Yacob moved back to Milwaukee and Allen learned about the fair trade movement from Gail’s mom, Alice Foley, a long-time peace activist. He felt that starting a fair trade business could be his mission! We opened our shop in 2007 and have had a life-changing experience rubbing shoulders with people doing amazing things to bring about positive change in the world. We hope that our shop inspires you and we can all work together to make the world a safe and fair place for everyone!
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