Fair Trade?

So I have recently made a decision to not shop at stores such as walmart, for many reasons but one is the use of china and abusing their labor rights. I am sure a lot of other companies do this as well. I try to by some stuff through websites I find online that claim to be fair trade, but I was wondering what other companies should I try to avoid or are their any real companies that I can feel okay shopping at? Any suggestions at how to buy clothing with fair trade would be helpful. I normally shop at stores such as american eagle, gap, pacific sunwear and wondering if those would be stores that I should try to avoid? Is it possible to buy everything fair trade or is that unrealistic?

Answer:
all the companies you mentioned are bad...
try gaiam and real goods to start...

Actually you should be shopping at Wal Mart. They are one of the few companies that do not rip off the consumer in the US. Most companies do not know what fair trade means. They sell an item which should cost 10 cents for $5.00 or they pay their worker $20 an hour for a $5.00 per hour job only because it is easy to pass the cost onto the poor consumer. I will not buy from companies that do this. It is morally wrong if nothing else. If you want to help boycott stores which overcharge consumers ( mostly low income consumers) such as Albertsons, Macys' etc. Give your business to stores which care such as Wal Mart, Costco etc.

well this is a hard answer because you are actually stating that others should believe in what we see in america as being correct and if they dont you will punish them.

see in china the work isnt seen as being unfair. it is the norm and the way families pay their bills. i know this because i spent 3 years there. many people in many countries see american workforce as slave labor because we are forced to work 40+ hours and most of us get no vacations and lack insurance.

we cant pass our idea of what is right on to a culture that has people that would rather have any job than non at all (which in an overpopulated area such as china is the norm). people in sweat shops usually are just glad to have a job at all.

but it is better to buy at a fair trade company instead because people getting paid more to work 50 hours a week with no insurance , no family time and no vactions is a lot better. isnt it?

Try buying products that are made in USA instead. It says where it is made right on the label. That way you would be supporting american workers and improving our economic situation. That way you would not have to worry about fair trade.

As a union man, I applaud your concern, but not the way you are doing it. Walmart sell more American goods than most other stores. I suggest that you buy according to the label on an individual product, not by the store as a whole.
I believe that GAP, American Eagle and the other stores you mentioned all sell clothes made in impoverished nations.

P.S. I wish you luck in finding a TV, VCR, DVD, Computer, or any other electronic device that wasn't made in a way that would be classified as "unfair trade".

I think the only way to make sure is if they have certification such as FLO-CERT.

I'm living in China and I can say with certainty that working (and living) conditions in China are far, far better than in other Asian countries which are used for cheap labour by multinational companies. The worst cases are clothing and footwear companies exploiting the workforces of Indonesia, Bangladesh, Thailand, the Philippines and Sri Lanka.

as a union worker i do not shop at walmart because of how they treat their employees here in the states. i always look for products that are made in the USA and take my business to places that do not engage in union busting.

You are correct to be concerned about Wal-Mart and the like. In addition to it's dependence on imported, cheaply manufactured goods, it is just too big. It's size implies that it has much too much power to manipulate all phases of the marketplace - and the public. Yes, Wal-Mart does innovate in some ways environmentally and managerially, but that does not justify the power they wield.

Read George Simmermaker at Buy America.com.
Read the label on everything you wish to buy.
Express praise to the manager of a store that stocks USA made merchandise.
Express your opinion, briefly, to store employees also - so the word will get around.

Allowing, and even encouraging our industries to move abroad leaves our country dependent on other countries. I sometimes cry that we can't even make a broom here anymore. If we don't manufacture our own basic products then our people will no longer have the know-how to make essential products. The "trades" will die out here. Making silicon computer chips should not be our only claim to fame.

Pardon my tirade, but I feel as strongly as you do.
You are a good citizen. Good luck.

There are many ways to buy fair trade products, however the easiest to find is food. I don't live in a particularly progressive area therefore fair trade coffee and chocolate is the most common product available. Check the fair trade certification list on the website provided for a list of companies. A word of caution though some of the stores on the list only sell a limited quantity of fair trade products.

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Fair Trade?

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