What about companies that only have some products with the Fair Trade mark?

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.