Fair Trade | Mankato Area Fair Trade Town Association

Fair Trade Towns Global Update

The Fair Trade Towns movement started in April 2000 in Garstang (pop. 5,000) in north-west England. By 2011 it had grown rapidly to feature 1,000 Fair Trade Towns in 21 other countries. Only six years later, in October 2017, the global list of Fair Trade Towns had reached 2,000! The number of countries where campaigning around the Fair Trade Town idea was taking place had, by then, reached 33 (Belgium/Flanders and Belgium/Wallonia being counted separately). The current list, in March, 2019 is here.

icadmin2022-03-18T16:04:55+00:00March 4, 2019|Fair Trade, Fair Trade Towns|

Signs of Fair Trade

Consumers have access to more information about products of small farmers and artisans in the Global South than ever before. Fair Trade certification has evolved significantly over the last 25 years and helped to increase incomes in poor communities in many countries. Fair Trade has been a leading force in the global sustainable development movement, notably in the formation of the ISEAL Alliance. Fair Trade certification is not, however, the only expression of 'Fair Trade'. Dedicated business associations play their part, as do companies that, for differing reasons, eschew third-party certification and rely on their own commitment to Fair Trade Read More

icadmin2022-03-18T16:05:31+00:00July 28, 2017|Fair Trade, Sustainable Development|

MAFTTI Messages

October is Fair Trade Month. In 2016 it has the added significance of featuring the 5th Anniversary of‘ “Mankato-Fair Trade Town". At this moment MAFTTI wants to bring supporters’ attention to a few issues that bear upon the future of Fair Trade education and advocacy in the area. A printed version of MAFTTI Messages, with additional graphics, was presented to those who attended the Celebration of the 5th Anniversary of the Mankato City Council’s Resolution held at Christ the King Lutheran Church, Mankato, on October 27, 2016. The intention of the Messages is two-fold: (a) To point up some of the emphases Read More

icadmin2022-03-09T19:26:43+00:00October 28, 2016|Fair Trade, Fair Trade Towns|

Report to Mankato City Council, October 24, 2016

Mankato City Council passed a unanimous Resolution on October 24, 2011 declaring Mankato a ‘Fair Trade Town” acceding to the criteria of the national Fair Trade Towns campaign. On the 5th Anniversary, MAFTTI presented a report to the City Council which can be read here.

icadmin2022-03-18T16:06:52+00:00October 26, 2016|Fair Trade, Fair Trade Towns|

Resilience, Convergence & Fair Trade

MAFTTI Chair Paul Renshaw attended the 9th International Fair Trade Towns Conference in Bristol, England, July 4-5, 2015. One workshop was devoted to "Resilience, Convergence and Fair Trade". This is a complex trio of concepts, one that needed much more time than the hour allotted. However, here are some notes of a preliminary nature. They contain some material shared by the speakers but also the result of some foraging on the internet in search of greater understanding, even of how a cashew nut grows.

icadmin2022-03-18T16:07:45+00:00September 13, 2015|Fair Trade|

Fair Trade, Imagination and Empathy

Famed Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling’s Harvard commencement speech in 2008 has just been published. Some of her thoughts are apt as World Fair Trade Day (May 9) approaches. “We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.” This speaks to the heart of Fair Trade, a global movement of millions of people – farmers, artisans, consumers – who dream that a world of greater equity, justice and compassion is possible. J.K. Rowling challenged her Harvard audience to cultivate empathy alongside the power of Read More

icadmin2022-03-18T16:08:16+00:00May 13, 2015|Fair Trade|

How Fair is Fair?

On March 17, 2015 a presentation on Fair Trade was made in the MSU Social Justice Lecture series. The speakers were Mark Hudson and Mara Fridell, sociologists from the University of Manitoba. Their speaking at MSU was proposed by MAFTTI and facilitated by the Sociology Department and other interested on-campus entitities, both faculty and student-led. The stimulus for the lecture was the publication in 2013 of "Fair Trade, Sustainability and Social Change" (Palgrave Macmillan). Mark Hudson and Mara Fridell shared in co-authoring this book. Notes on the presentation were drafted by Sally Coomes (First Presbyterian Church, Mankato),augmented by Paul Renshaw Read More

icadmin2022-03-18T16:08:36+00:00April 1, 2015|Fair Trade|

The quest for Fair Trade clothing

Fair Trade clothing is a complex subject because the supply chains in the industry are so complex. The need for Fair Trade clothing was highlighted in April 2013 when the Rana Plaza garment factory complex in Dhaka, Bangladesh, collapsed with tragic loss of life. In the USA the availability of Fair Trade clothing is growing, but is still very limited. Apparel businesses that are members of the Fair Trade Federation and others which have products carrying the Fair Trade Certified label recently developed by Fair Trade USA are listed at the end of this article to help "The quest for Fair Read More

icadmin2022-03-18T16:09:02+00:00October 10, 2014|Clothing, Fair Trade|

How do certifications compare?

Fair World Project has produced a valuable interactive, evaluative chart focusing on six certifications, four of them seen on products in US stores. Click here.

icadmin2022-03-18T16:09:26+00:00January 27, 2014|Fair Trade|