What Is a Fair Trade Organization?
Fair trade is a global social movement that sets ethical standards for business. These standards are set to help achieve goals such as reducing poverty and protecting the environment. A fair trade organization is one that has agreed to adhere to certain rules and maintain certain standards. When this is done, the company is certified as a fair trade organization and granted the right to display fair trade insignia. The concept of a fair trade organization is credited to Edna Ruth Byler, a Mennonite volunteer. The poverty of hard working Puerto Rican seamstresses is said to have prompted Byler to bring some of their goods to the United States (US) to sell at fair prices. Afterward, she returned the money to the women. The result of these transactions is a well known fair trade organization called Ten Thousand Villages.
