In the News

Williams-Sonoma Inc. Will Double Fair Trade Premiums

Williams-Sonoma Inc. (WSI) aims to have 75% of its products meet one or more of its social and environmental goals by 2030, a commitment that represents $1 billion in product purchases annually.

In pursuit of that goal, the multi-nameplate home furnishings retailer announced new investments in purchases of Nest Ethical Handcraft products and its intention to double investments in Fair Trade USA programs by 2025. WSI became the first home retailer to offer Fair Trade Certified products with the launch of one rug factory in India. Today it works with 17 Fair Trade Certified factories in five countries, impacting nearly 16,000 workers.

CVS Expands Its Private Labels With an Eye on Price, Transparency and Sustainability

CVS Pharmacy is capitalizing on the trend towards private label by adding more than 150 new products under its in-house brands, including Live Better by CVS Health and two new labels: Fair Trade-certified coffee label Gold Emblem and men’s personal care line Goodline Grooming Co.

Chobani Launches The First Fair Trade-Certified Dairy Product In The U.S.

Billionaire yogurt entrepreneur Hamdi Ulukaya, the founder of food company Chobani, has long been known as an innovator and someone whose company supports refugees and immigrants. On Thursday, Chobani—known for its Greek yogurt—becomes the first in the U.S. dairy industry to be certified with the Fair Trade seal of approval. The certification, bestowed by a nonprofit trade group called Fair Trade USA, indicates that Chobani—a $1.5 billion (2020 revenues) company with 2,200 employees—has been working with U.S. farms and cooperatives to improve working conditions.

The Case for Fair Trade is Clearer Than Ever

Farmworkers are a landless population of daily wage earners who produce over 70 percent of the world’s food supply, yet more than a third live in poverty, threatening their ability to sustain themselves, their families, and the supply chains that provide us quality sustenance. This article shows how businesses that support fair trade help farmworkers stay resilient in trying times.

Arc'teryx to Certify 80 Percent of Products as Fair Trade by 2025

Canada-based Arc’teryx Equipment, a design company specializing in technical high-performance outerwear and equipment, will begin its fair trade journey by converting three manufacturing facilities in Vietnam into Fair Trade Certified ones in 2021. As part of its response to the pandemic-induced global garment workers’ crisis, the company aims at certifying 80 percent of its products as fair trade by 2025.

Your Favorite Fair Trade Certified NatureSweet Tomatoes Just Got Sweeter

Fair Trade USA's Head of Fresh Goods, Jesse Appelman, and NatureSweet's VP of Marketing, Lori Castillo, join The Produce Moms to talk about Fair Trade Certified tomatoes.

The Need for Decent Work in the Land of Plenty

Certifying farms in the United States—a “developed” country with supposedly-strong labor laws—underscores the radical inclusivity that has been a vital part of our organization’s values since day one. It solidifies the notion that fair trade standards are applicable, literally, right here on home soil.

How Fair Trade USA and B Corp Certification Help Businesses Amplify Justice and Positive Impact

In celebration of #FairTradeMonth, we interviewed four companies that are B Corps and Fair Trade USA. These two impact measurement certifications encourage companies to build justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion into the core of their businesses and supply chains.

The Dirty Secret Behind The West's Coconut Fad

At a time when the demand for coconut products is exploding in the developed world, an OZY investigation from the Philippines and Indonesia finds that the 8 million smallholder farmers growing the fruit in the world’s two biggest coconut exporting countries are far from benefiting—in fact, they are hurting.

Shop Consciously From The We Wear Fair Trade 2020 Lookbook

"The impacts of this crisis are being felt far and wide, especially by the most vulnerable, like garment workers," stylist and fair trade collaborator Rachael Wang tells Fashionista. See her styling and Fashionista's picks from 2020's We Wear Fair Trade lookbook, aimed at highlighting the work Fair Trade USA does to protect the garment workers behind every item of clothing.