Browsing: Fair trade

It hasn’t passed our notice here at EthicalSuperstore  that two of our most popular blog topics have been regarding the poignant question of ethical beauty products – skincare, hair care, make up and make up removers that don’t cost the earth are right up there at the top of many peoples’ priority lists.

Whether it’s a guilty secret or one of your greatest pleasures, everyone loves to pamper themselves every now and again. This might involve a quiet moment with a book or an indulgence in your favourite sweet treat rather than a face-mask or a luxury body scrub, but for myself personally, I enjoy nothing better after a hard day than enjoying a nice hot bubble bath, beautifully scented and wonderfully relaxing.

With so many different beauty and skincare products on the market it’s often hard to know which way to turn. We all know by now that we ought to avoid phalates, sodium lauryl sulphates and other nasties (worryingly still found in many mainstream brands of skincare and cosmetics), however where do you go from there? Do you buy natural products, or only opt for those with certifiably organic ingredients? Do you stick to vegan-friendly pampering, or is it more an issue of avoiding animal cruelty that is at the top of your list?

But there has been one glaring omission in the market which has puzzled me on several occasions. One type of pamper product that has been conspicuously absent from both specialist and supermarket shelves is Fairtrade Labelled skin treats – up until now.

We are delighted to be able to unleash Fairtrade Labelled Bubble & Balm onto our shelves today – this delightful new ethical skincare range has been developed in conjunction with the Fairtrade Foundation, and is set to transform my own pampering sessions, as well as do great things leading the march in the world of cosmetics.

Bubble & Balm looks great in its stylish silver pots and bottles, and each potion and lotion smells fabulous too. But much, much more than this, the message given by the Fairtrade Mark is that the producers working alongside Bubble & Balm are getting a great deal, which says a lot both about the company, and about the people who buy these products and support this Fairtrade cosmetic pioneering first.

Whether it’s Fairtrade Shea Butter sourced from a producer co-operative in Burkino Faso, or Fairtrade Cocoa Butter from a small-scale farmer co-operative in the Dominican Republic which tempts you first, these products give you the best of both worlds – these moisturisers, body oils and bath salts are naturally produced, using natural ingredients, and come with the world’s leading Fairtrade Certification too.

We’d love to know how you find Bubble & Balm, and what your take is on expanding the Fairtrade Labelling system to cover an ever-growing range of products. Will Fairtrade Labelling for skincare and pampering products change your priorities when you’re making your own purchases? I know it’s certainly something which will change my habits.

So next time you have a ‘Mirror, mirror on the wall…’ moment, take a moment to think about it…who IS the fairest of the all???

It’s that time of year again - judging for the fourth annual Triodos Women in Ethical Business Awards is under way, and here at Ethical Superstore we are delighted that three of the finalists are business-women we have been supporting for years.

Anne MacCaig, chief executive of Cafedirect, has been nominated in the Ethical Business Awards category. Cafedirect’s Fairtrade labelled coffees and tea were among the first products seen on the virtual Ethical Superstore shelves, and since then the brand has grown into a nationally recognised name. Anne’s commitment to generating social and environmental benefits for grower communities deserve the recognition given in this finalist position, a worthy winner of the title.

Sarah Brooks and Susi Lennox and their company Yes Pure Intimacy, the only range of organic intimate lubricants and moisturisers, have been nominated in the Ethical Small Business Award Category. Sold through EthicalSuperstore since 2008, Yes products may not be the first line that springs to mind when thinking of ethical trading, but these intimate products have become one of our increasingly popular lines. Sarah and Susi are pioneers for ethical trading in this field, making them excellent contenders for the award.

Zaytoun, also nominated in the Ethical Small Business category, is an olive oil producing company run by Heather Gardener-Masoud, dedicated to improving the lives of olive farmers in Palestine. Showing real dedication to her cause Heather started as a volunteer, before identifying the market gap and transforming her fledgling idea into a multi-million pound business. Her development of the world’s first Fairtrade olive oil and obvious commitment to the cause makes Heather a forerunner in this category.

Despite the current economic climate, people are still choosing to shop ethically to ensure that their hard earned cash benefits the people who deserve it most. Indeed perhaps you could even say that shopping ethically will help to foster the green shoots of hope of economic recovery in places that really need it.

Here at Ethical Superstore we are proud to support women who pioneer in ethical business. The three women nominated for the 2009 awards have vitally contributed to improving the lives of others through viable and profitable businesses, and we wish them all possible success in the final.

Click here to place your vote. The deadline is Friday June 19 at 5pm.

I have been a regular consumer for many years. I have faced the supermarket weekly for well over twenty years. I have bought all the food and household products for seven people for over five years. I have been swayed by some ad campaigns and special offers. I have seen through others. I thought I had seen it all.

But what I saw last week in the supermarket in-store magazine topped it all. The news that 17-24 May was officially National Watercress Week filled me with horror, ridicule and despair. Not that I have anything particularly against watercress - but why have a week formally designated to it?

Flicking through the magazine, I was also made aware of other such ‘Weeks’. Did you know that 10-16 May was British Sandwich Week and National Breastfeeding Awareness Week? Sorry if you are disappointed that those have passed you by. The bad news is you also missed National Bread Week from the 4-10 May, so you may now have to wait a while for another bread-related week. The 18-22 May is also Walk to School Week and National Allergy Week. I guess for some, those two may be related.

Why do we do it? To raise awareness? As an advertising opportunity? To promote healthy living? As a chance for real fans to celebrate? Will National Watercress Week really have made some quantifiable difference?

Who comes up with these ’Weeks’ anyway? How do they become official? Can anyone have a go? I would like to propose 23-30 May as National Muesli Week and this is my pitch.

We all know the importance of eating a healthy breakfast. It’s a great start to the day, activating your brain and giving you the energy to give your best until lunch. And what better than muesli, the healthiest of all healthy breakfasts? Muesli was developed for just that reason. In around 1900, a Swiss physician saw muesli as a great way to boost the health of patients in his hospital. It became popular in western countries in the 1960s as people became increasingly interested in healthy eating and recognised the combination of beneficial ingredients found in a bowl of muesli. Fresh fruit, oats, nuts…..ingredients high in fibre and omega-3 fatty acids, with a low glycaemic index, shown to reduce high cholesterol and the risk of cancer…all served up with either fresh or soya milk. Perfect.

The only way to make it more perfect would be to buy Fair Trade or organic muesli. Then the benefit would not only be yours, but also the environment, and the growers and the producers of the ingredients. I’m a fan of Traidcraft muesli, especially now they have released an Apricot and Cranberry variety. I like to be able to read the information about the farmers on the back of the box. I like to know that what is improving the quality of my life is improving the quality of life for others as well. I like to be able to offer my family a choice of varieties to suit all tastes and with brands like Traidcraft, Rude Health and Alara; we’re spoilt for choice!

So are you with me on this? Will you join me in making 23-30 May National Muesli Week? Let me know your thoughts.

Happy munching!

India is a remarkable country. After only a three week visit I’m hardly qualified to say that I know it well, but during my trip I certainly got a wonderful impression of the place, the people and the varied and colourful histories of the different areas.

It’s a country of extreme contrasts: from dry and arid deserts to humid jungles and back waters, but I think the starkest contrast is that of the way that people have, and still do live. With World Fair Trade Day around the corner, it’s a good time to recognise and reflect upon these contrasts, and give extra recognition and a round of applause to the people who are working towards making a difference.

Upon my arrival in Delhi, I was lucky enough to be introduced to the people behind Tara Projects, a long established Fair Trade organisation which is helping to make a difference for the people involved in their programmes. Having never visited a workshop of this kind before I was really excited to be able to visit and discover more of what goes on behind the scenes, and meet the driving forces behind the widespread good work that this organisation achieves.

Read the rest of Fair Trade in Action - My Visit to Tara Projects »

Like all couples, we have our differences. We argue about the kids, money, whose turn it is to load the dishwasher, all the usual stuff. But sometimes the argument focuses on something a little less ordinary and today, we invite you to eavesdrop on our issue of the moment and join our great debate.

Is it better to buy supermarket own label fair trade goods or to support fairtrade pioneer brands like Cafedirect and Divine.

My argument for supermarket own label fair trade goods:-

Since my husband rarely visits a supermarket (daggers drawn early on!) and I frequent the same supermarket at the same time on the same day every week, I feel I am in more of a position to comment on what actually appears on and disappears off the supermarket shelves from a consumer perspective.

In our early days as fair trade supporters, we could never have envisaged being able to buy fair trade products in a local supermarket, let alone the advent of own label fair trade goods. I therefore feel the need to support any steps in the right direction taken by the supermarket chains. I take pride in buying own label fairly traded coffee, chocolate spread, honey, fresh fruit and veg, and the latest new addition to their range, banana cake and chocolate cake.

As I have discovered with the own label organic products, these items are launched with a great deal of hype but removed very quietly and without comment. If the consumers do not buy them, then the lines will be withdrawn. Simple as that. Surely the ethical consumer needs to buy these products to ensure their place on the shelves.

Read the rest of Supermarket own label fair trade V Fairtrade pioneers »

Peaches Geldof lives her life in the limelight. As the daughter of Bob Geldof and Paula Yates, Peaches has had a high profile right from day one, and as one of the UK’s most prolific socialites she’s rarely out of the glossy mags.

Some people might be tempted to criticise her for having life handed to her on a plate, but today we’re applauding Miss Geldof for going the extra mile. Proving that she’s listened to some of the lessons that her dad’s work has taught her, Peaches has been working alongside one of our favourite fair trade jewellery manufacturers, Made, to design and produce a fabulous new range of handmade fairly traded jewellery which we think really hits the spot.

In Peaches’ own words:

“I like Made because it’s ethical yet this doesn’t compromise the fashionable status of their collections…the handmade attention to detail adds something special to each piece created.”

This bold, bright and stylish range was inspired by warm summer days and daisy chains. It’s the perfect way to jazz up your summer wardrobe as the days (slowly!) start to get a little warmer.

Photo via: peachesgeldof.net

I was thinking of enrolling my two youngest children on a Drama course in the Easter holidays until I checked the dates on the calendar - the course took place on Easter Saturday and Easter Sunday. There must be some mistake. I checked again. No, definitely those days. Would people really send their kids on a course on those days? Don’t they have better things to do as a family on Easter Sunday? Has it really become just like any other day?
It reminded me of last football season when I wrongly assumed there would be no game for my son’s team on Easter Sunday morning. I was made to feel a fool, but was I really the fool? Do we really believe that just buying all that is on offer will make for a proper celebration?

Easter, like all our annual festivals, has become a great marketing opportunity - Easter bonnets, bunnies, gifts and of course, chocolate eggs. Not that any of this is in itself  wrong, but it focuses our attention on what we buy and away from the actual significance of the event.

Whether as individuals we share in the Christian celebration of the Easter weekend or not, we can all participate in celebrating new life -

Read the rest of Celebrating Life At Easter »

Our friends at Divine Chocolate have come up with a fantastically novel way to encourage people to send an email to politicians to keep fair trade on the agenda at next week’s G20. It’s a simple game – Egg a Politician. You get to throw a chocolate egg at one of  five world leaders — Barack Obama, Nicolas Sarkozy, Gordon Brown, Manmohan Singh or Wen Jiabao — who are all attending the G20 summit, where finance ministers and central bank governors of 19 countries and the European Union will meet to discuss “key issues related to global economic stability”.

As well as the therapy of hurling the egg at your leader of choice, you then get the opportunity to send an email to that leader – direct from the page – just as soon as they’ve devoured the chocolate.

When I first read about this idea I had visions similar to the incident that saw the

Read the rest of Have You ever Wanted to Egg a Politician? »

I like clothes and I like shopping for them but over Christmas I looked at my wardrobe and decided enough was enough; no more fast fashion, and I’ve been looking for guilt free shopping alternatives ever since.

I’ve adopted the following Fashion rules

• Do I really need a new…..?
• Will I wear it more then once?
• Is it really worth the cash?
• Is it well made?
• And no more fast fashion-stores; Primark being at top of my list.

In January my first initiative was actually selling old clothes which I no longer wear on ebay and using the money to either buy vintage items that I couldn’t usually afford, expanding the organic fibres in my wardrobe or saving the money for a rainy day. This has been working brilliantly as I’ve sold in total 22 items and made some shrewd purchases including a pair of Vintage Terry de Havilland wedges. I’ve only had to make a couple of trips to the post office and in the process cleared space in my wardrobe and am now the proud owner of a great pair of shoes with some cash put aside for that rainy day.

In February I attended a

Read the rest of I wish to… Swish! »

Sometime in late March 1999 Waitrose received its first delivery of Geobars and my favourite snackbar was born. Of course, I’m a little bit biased as I was part of the launch team that created the product while I was working for Traidcraft. It was also bit tricky to see it on the shelf as Traidcraft was in Gateshead and the nearest Waitrose back then was in Newark – 160 miles away.

The team at Traidcraft – myself, Joe Osman (now a director at Traidcraft) and Stuart Palmer (now managing a hospital in Malawi) – were given just 10 weeks to create a product, design and produce packaging and get it manufactured and delivered to Waitrose. The original favourite name was going to be “Zanzibar” – taking the best fair trade ingredients from Africa and making a classic snackbar product. However, the fairtrade honey from Tanzania had dried up at the time and so Chilean honey was used instead. Zanzibar no longer seemed appropriate and so the Geobar was born.

Apparently 90% of all product launches fail – so the fact it still graces the shelves of supermarkets up and down the land is testament to the great ingredients and tasty recipe. As well as being the first snackbar to carry the Fairtrade Mark, it was also the first Traidcraft product to carry the mark. Until that point

Read the rest of Traidcraft Geobar is 10 years old »