International Fair Trade - Common Myths and Assumptions

What about products that claim to be Fair Trade, Fairly Traded or Directly directly traded?

It is important to know that there are some Fair Trade products available in Metro Vancouver that do not use the FLO certification system. Some companies have developed their own completely legitimate Fair Trade relationships with producers in the developing world without the use of FLO.

There are many good reasons companies may choose to do this. Sometimes a Fair Trade relationship was developed before the advent of the FLO system. In other cases a company may feel the FLO system does not go far enough, and their relationship may actually provide even better standards of living for its producers. Fair Trade brands and products in this category should not be neglected simply because they do not bear the standard Fair Trade mark.

However, consumers must be extremely careful when evaluating ethical claims from companies claiming to be Fair Trade. While many claims out there are real, a good many are not. The major disadvantage of not using the FLO certification system is that there is no independent third party to monitor the Fair Trade claims a company makes. Fair Trade Vancouver recommends consumers do their own research on companies to see if they feel their claims are accurate. Ask questions! Has the company making a claim to be Fair Trade even been known to engage in unethical behavior? Misleading advertising? It can be surprisingly easy to evaluate the accuracy of claims with a little research.

As mentioned above, Fair Trade Vancouver recommends that consumers do their own research; however, here is a list of companies selling products in Metro Vancouver that we believe meet the principles of Fair Trade, but who are not necessarily certified by Fairtrade Canada.

What about companies which only have some of there products certified?

This is an important point. It is crucial to understand that there are Fair Trade products, and Fair Trade companies. Many companies, particularly larger corporations, are trying to reap the benefits of the Fair Trade buzz by certifying only a small portion of their products as Fair Trade. Fair Trade Vancouver believes consumers should aim to support companies that buy all of their products on Fair Trade terms (either through the FLO certification system or an alternative legitimate direct trade relationship). In the Where to Find section of our website, you will only see 100% Fair Trade brands listed.

Fair Trade Vancouver stresses that if an individual product is indeed certified as Fair Trade, even from a less than perfect company, that product still meets the Fair Trade criteria. This means that if you are in a pinch and there are no 100% Fair Trade company products available, you are still making an ethical choice by buying the certified product.

Note on tea: One exception to this is tea. Because tea comes to companies from so many different sources, it is extremely difficult to certify each and every variety of a company’s teas as Fair Trade. It is best to look for the company with the most Fair Trade certified teas, and pick one of the varieties with the Fair Trade Certified mark.