Certification for Handicrafts

Handicrafts is where the Fair Trade movement started. When it comes to a gift, why not give something that helps improve the lives of people in the world’s poorest countries?

It is important to note that handicrafts cannot be certified Fair Trade by a body like Fairtrade Canada.  This is because art and crafts are not standardized products that allow for certification.  It's hard to determine what a "fair price" is for a sculpture after all!

However, one way to provide legitimacy to Fair Trade Handicrafts, is for producers, and the Canadian companies who import products, to join the World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO).  This organization evaluates producers and importers to verify whether they are indeed practicing the principles of Fair Trade.  In North America, there is also the Fair Trade Federation (FTF), which also acts as a trade organization that sets Fair Trade standards for its members.

It is important to note that many people in Canada who sell Fair Trade handicrafts may have business's which are too small to be able to become members of such organizations.  As such, Fair Trade Vancouver recommends people ask as many questions as possible to learn whether a person is legitimately selling Fair Trade handicrafts in the absence of membership to the WFTO or FTF.

Some questions to ask people claiming to sell Fair Trade handicrafts:

• Are you importing the products from a cooperative or other form of producer organization?
• Are you purchasing these products directly from the artisans and their organizations?
• Do you know what the World Fair Trade Organization or the Fair Trade Federation is?
• What kind of capacity-building projects are taking place with the revenues from these products?
• How are the prices for producers determined?

See the handicrafts section for a list of companies in Metro Vancouver that Fair Trade Vancouver feels are meeting Fair Trade criteria.