Fair trade is a movement to help the producers of goods receive fair treatment. Fair trade plays an important role in maintaining fair wages and living standards for sellers of all kinds of products, particularly in less developed countries.
Choosing to buy fair trade tea helps ensure that the products are produced ethically and sustainably. Fair trade applies to a number of different items, including many baby products. This fair trade baby gifts guide will walk you through how buying fair trade baby products makes an impact, and will provide several great options for fair trade baby gifts.
Background Information: Fair Trade Pros and Cons
Why Buying Fair Trade Baby Gifts Makes an Impact
The fair trade movement helps ensure that consumer items, including many baby products, are produced ethically and sustainably. Fair trade focuses on supporting workers by ensuring a living wage and fair working conditions, and by empowering producers to bring about positive changes in their communities.
In order to become Fair Trade Certified, producers must follow the specific standards set for their industry. Different kinds of products are subject to different fair trade requirements, as specific industries face different ethical problems. For example, workers in the textile industry may experience exposure to toxic chemicals used to dye clothes, while tea farmers may experience forced labor to meet quotas for the amount of tea they must harvest.
However, many ethical issues are common across multiple industries and fair trade seeks to put a stop to these unethical practices. Some of the main goals of fair trade include:
- Fair pay
- Lack of child labor or forced labor
- Safe and healthy work-places, including proper sanitation
- Increased emphasis on workers having a say in their working conditions
- Gender equality
- Environmentally-friendly production practices
- Adequate monitoring to ensure adherence to these practices
Fair trade organizations also set a dollar amount for the Fairtrade Minimum Price, the lowest amount a product can be sold for. This helps ensure that each item is sold for a fair price and that the producer can earn a living wage. Fair trade producers also receive Fairtrade Premiums, an extra amount of money that producers receive on top of the price of the product, that can be invested collectively, however the producers choose. The Premium is often used to fund local projects in the workers’ communities, including sustainability initiatives, scholarships, or educational programs.
When you buy fair trade gifts, you help support producers that are dedicated to these ethical standards. Not only can you rest assured that your baby products are ethically-produced, but you also help provide financial support to fair trade workers.
What Kinds of Baby Products Are Fair Trade?
There are a number of types of baby products that are produced by fair trade certified companies, many of which make great fair trade baby gifts.
These include:
- Clothing
- Blankets
- Toys
- Diaper bags
- Baby bottles
- And more
This list is by no means exhaustive of the many fair trade baby product options that exist. Many fair trade organizations like the Fair Trade Federation or Fair Trade USA include product finders on their websites that can help you find fair trade products near you.
We’ve selected some of the best fair trade baby gifts that are not only safe and high-quality, but are ethically and sustainably produced.
Fair Trade Baby Gifts
Indigo Kids: Fair Trade Baby Clothes
Indigo Kids is based in Australia, but their baby and children’s clothing is produced in their fair trade factory in Bali. Indigo Kids is dedicated to bettering the working and living conditions of women in Indonesia, and contributes to several programs in Indonesia that support safety and education for women and children. Their clothing is made to last and comes in a wide variety of bright colors and patterns.
Pebble: Fair Trade Toys & Blankets
Children’s toys producer Pebble was started in Bangladesh in 2010. While their catalog of products has grown since then, their commitment to ethical artisanship has remained the same. All their products are hand-made and Fair Trade Certified. From woodland creatures to ice cream cones, their stuffed animals and rattles are sure to bring a smile to anyone’s face. Pebble also sells hand-woven baby blankets.
MAM: Fair Trade Baby Bottles
MAM creates pacifiers, teethers, and baby bottles. They are a member of Fair Trade Rubber, a fair trade organization that ensures ethical and sustainable production of rubber. MAM is committed to the fair treatment of the rubber harvesters that work near their factory in Thailand, as well as sustainability and responsibility throughout their entire supply chain. Their baby bottles are BPA-free, self-sterilizing, and of course, made using fair trade rubber. They come in a number of fun designs and feature several different animals, from rhinos to.frogs.
Fair Trade Baby Gift Bundles
If one gift simply isn’t enough for that special baby in your life, consider making your own fair trade baby gift basket. There are a number of ethical and sustainable marketplaces that sell a wide variety of fair trade certified brands. Rather than searching through website after website, you can simply visit a single marketplace and shop for multiple fair trade baby gifts at once.
Marketplaces that sell fair trade baby gifts include, but are not limited to:
These marketplaces help you ensure that the brands you support are fair trade certified and support the workers who produce your purchases.