Do facilities have to meet 100 percent of Fair Trade standards to begin producing Fair Trade Certified™ product?
Fair Trade is a continuous improvement model. Facilities must meet all requirements classified as “major” and an increasing percentage of remaining standards over time. The aim of Fair Trade is to recognize the very best factories and to reward them with more business so that they can thrive and continue to invest in their workers. In that spirit, Fair Trade standards are time-based, with the majority of standards required at the time of initial certification, and more stringent standards required in subsequent years.
