I am very proud to have a read a recent article about how much support “fair trade” and “ethical trade” have in the Philadelphia area. Beyond the fact that 2 well-known companies in the Philadelphia area (Aramark and SCA) have won recognition recently for their ethical standards, it is very cool to know that many other businesses and consumers care about where their products are coming from, and are willing to support that idea with their dollars. There is even a “Fair Trade Philadelphia” website (www.fairtradephiladelphia.org) for interested citizens.
While they are slightly different, both fair trade and ethical trade have to do with making sure that the purchase price of a given product goes more to the producer of that product vs a middleman who buys and sells in bulk. The general idea is to lift the incomes of the producers (whether they are employees or small businesspeople) so that they can in turn invest in the communities in which they live. This is a truly a case of voting with one’s purchase power.
Some related movements (ethical trade, direct trade, etc) incorporate the pricing issues of “fair trade” into a broader evaluation of suppliers. Other factors considered would be environmental sustainability aspects, traceability of product, potential human costs of procuring/producing the product, etc. The general idea is to know as much as possible about the supplier.
Many companies attempt to do just that in evaluating their suppliers–understand the supply chain, where raw materials are coming from, who the people are, etc. The difference is that “ethical” trade treats the traditionally non-economic aspects (i.e., how workers are treated) as critically important as the pricing is.
Fair Trade and Ethical Trade:
(www.philly.com/philly/blogs/style/Fairness-and-ethics-rule-Philly-retail.html)
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