Is Fair Trade "More Expensive"?
We want to encourage your support of Fair Trade, and take confidence in the facts: Fair Trade should not mean “more expensive”. Many Fair Trade companies insist that supporting the artists means paying them more money, but that is only half of the Fair Trade story….
Yes, paying a Fair price means paying more to supplying artisans. This fair price is paid directly to the producer as a way to eliminate exploitation and sweatshop labor, but working directly with producers also eliminates the profit margins of those middlemen. From our perspective, there are only two important factors with profit: how you make it and how you use it.
Village Markets takes a different approach to our pricing than most Fair Trade companies. We not only extend price savings to you from eliminating middlemen, but we also engage in direct profit sharing with our supplying artists. Believe it or not, there are few Fair Trade companies that actually send profits back to supplying artists AFTER the products have been sold. The definition of Fair Trade is a Fair Price directly to the producer and, unfortunately, the relationship often stops there.
After all, let's face it, the average shopper doesn't shop to help anyone but themselves. If we can keep prices lower than similar non-Fair Trade products, consumers will ALWAYS make the ethical choice to save money AND help people. The future of Fair Trade cannot depend on the good will of a select few...the future of Fair Trade must depend on competitive positioning within the general market.
Because of our unique business model, Village Markets can offer you better prices when you shop AND a greater impact for suppliers through our profit sharing. We keep our prices low to encourage your continued support, so please enjoy our great prices and know that your support is directly empowering people to work their way out of poverty through our Lutheran Fair Trade mission.
If you'd like any more information about the pricing of our Fair Trade gifts, please email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or call us toll-free 1(855) ALL-FAIR
