How did it start?

The fair trade movement started in the 1940s, when small US and European organisations began trading directly with handicraft producers in least developed countries. These so-called Alternative Trading Organisations (ATOs) were for the first time offering an alternative method to conventional trade by ensuring producers and their communities a fair price for their goods.

The impacts of such alternative trading relationships proved to be very successful in the upliftment of livelihoods in underdeveloped areas. As a result, during the next decades the model was replicated in other commodities’ supply chains, e.g. agricultural goods. Many small farmers in the South  were in fact victims of middlemen who often cheated on the quality and quantities of their produce. At the same time, the rules of global trade became increasingly harsher for Southern producers and workers, and exploitative practices a daily habit.

Fair trade was born with the aim to establish trustful partnerships between producers, workers, traders and consumers and to achieve a way of trading that is fair and focused on sustainable development.

Currently fair trade is an active global movement supported by thousands of producers and traders, millions of consumers and a huge network of grassroots and support organisations. 

International Fair Trade Systems	About Fair Trade South Africa