TRAIDCRAFT & TRANSFORM TRADEShared Earth’s links with Traidcraft go back a long way. When we opened our first shop in York in 1986, we ordered every product in Traidcraft’s catalogue, filling 2/3rds of our shelves; Traidcraft was our main supplier for many years. For the last few years, SE has been an important supplier for Traidcraft, supplying Crisil recycled glass, rainbow pottery, candles, solid shampoos, bamboo socks, rag rugs, bird houses, jute bags and many other products.
Following Traidcraft plc’s sad demise, many suppliers will be losing out on orders and we are keen to do all we can to compensate. Transform Trade (previously Traidcraft Exchange) has launched a ‘Producers’ Fund’, to support the people that Traidcraft and the Fair Trade movement has always been about: the makers, growers and artisans. We have agreed to donate at least £10,000 towards this Fund this year, and hopefully much more, through promotions and other schemes to raise funds, such as the one suggested below.
The Producers’ Fund will provide the investment for producers to survive the challenges they face today, and expand their impact in future. One example is Sadhna in India, a collective of 700 women, rural, tribal and urban, making hand-embroidered and related clothing and accessories. Shared Earth is exploring the possibilities of bringing them market access to the UK through our catalogue, websites and shops.  We have a plan to support the Producers’ Fund which we hope will appeal to all Traidcraft fair traders who sell on stalls at schools, churches etc! We understand that Traidcraft plc normally gave you a discount of 10% off retail prices. We will allow our normal wholesale terms (50% off RRPs), our suggestion being that 25% of this should go to you as a discount, and 25% to Transform Trade’s Producer Fund. We will apply this ‘surcharge’ on all our invoices to you, a win-win situation where both you and the producers, through the Producers’ Fund, gain.
Just contact Paula, Gina or David 01904 670321 or sales@sharedearth.co.uk (our wholesale team) to set up an account. We hope you will browse through our website and be impressed with our selection, which includes many products which Traidcraft wanted to order, but could not for reasons of finance or space in their catalogue. Just a few of our product ranges: |
