Grocery budgets are tight, and shoppers are asking sharper questions about where their money goes. For Fair Trade Month, we talked with BLK & Bold and TERRA THREAD (created by Gallant International), two brand partners that sell Fair Trade Certified™ products. They told us what fairness means to their businesses, why they invest both overseas and close to home, and what shoppers can do without stretching their budgets. For more on conscious spending during challenging times, check out our recent blog “How We Spend in an Affordability Crisis Matters“
Fairness in a Tight Economy
Right now, a lot of consumers are watching every dollar. Why does choosing Fair Trade Certified products still matter in a tight economy, for the shopper and for the people behind the product?
BLK & Bold: I won’t pretend a tight economy doesn’t change how people shop. It does, and it should. When you’re watching every dollar, you’re allowed to ask harder questions about where that dollar goes. That’s actually the case for Fair Trade Certified, not against it. It’s not asking you to spend more out of guilt. It’s telling you the price on the shelf already accounts for someone getting paid fairly for the work behind it, the farmer, not just the brand. For the shopper, that’s one less thing to feel weird about. For the people behind the product, in a tight economy that premium isn’t optional. It’s the floor. That’s the trade.
TERRA THREAD: When everyone is watching every dollar, where those dollars go matters even more. Buying Fair Trade Certified products means you are thinking beyond the item itself: you’re thinking about the farmers who grew your food or the garment workers who made your favorite T-shirt. Whether you shop in-store or online, it is easy to go about your day without considering the human labor behind the products. But when you choose a product with a Fair Trade Certified label, you know the workforce behind that product was treated fairly, compensated appropriately, and worked in a safe, healthy workplace.
What does “fairness” mean to your brand?
BLK & Bold: Fairness, to us, isn’t just a certification. We build it into how we operate: our pricing, who gets paid what and when, and who gets a seat before a decision gets made instead of after. We want everyone in our supply chain to never feel like they are in a deficit by working with us.
TERRA THREAD: For us, fairness is rooted in accountability. It goes beyond paying fair wages. It means actively supporting the people and ecosystems touched by our supply chain and beyond. True fairness also requires us to leave the planet in better shape for future generations.
Giving Back Globally and Locally
Your company supports producers and communities around the world, and you also invest close to home. Why do both matter for business?
BLK & Bold: People sometimes act like you have to pick: invest overseas in the people who grow your product, or invest at home in the community that buys it. I don’t see it as either-or. It’s not a marketing balance, it’s the actual shape of our business. Coffee doesn’t grow in the U.S., so global investment isn’t charity, it’s the supply chain done right. But we sell here, we hire here, and our coffees are served in real neighborhoods and corporate offices, so local investment isn’t a bonus program bolted on. You can’t build a values-led coffee brand and only show up for half the value chain.
TERRA THREAD: At the end of the day, supporting communities locally and globally is just part of being a good neighbor and a good human. As business owners, and not just as human beings, we feel a duty to do good for the people and places we touch. Impact doesn’t stop with distance. Supporting the farmers and workers in our supply chain overseas is just as important to us as helping out in the neighborhoods where our team and customers actually live.
Gallant International: Regenerative Cotton and Meals for Families
Pictured: Vik and Vizan Giri, the father-daughter duo who founded TERRA THREAD®.
Gallant International works with cotton farmers through regenerative growing practices. What does that partnership look like day to day, and what changes have you seen in the farming communities you work with?
Currently, Gallant supports approximately 700 farmers growing regenerative organic certified cotton. We provide non-GMO cotton seeds, tools, and training at no cost to the farmers, and we cover all certification fees. We also guarantee the purchase of their cotton at a premium price, significantly reducing their financial risk. The primary risk that remains is the possibility of lower yields due to changing climate and weather conditions.
For the 2024-25 harvest, farmers in our program earned approximately 18% more than conventional cotton farmers. We are also supporting 250 farmers as they transition from chemical-intensive farming to organic farming.
Farmers are choosing to participate because they are seeing the benefits firsthand: healthier soil, reduced dependence on synthetic agricultural chemicals, the potential for greater resilience, and an opportunity to improve their income. Our goal is to make the transition economically practical for farmers while supporting the long-term health of their land and communities.
Your partnership with Feeding America brings the “give back locally” piece to life. What inspired that connection, and how does it tie back to the values behind your Fair Trade sourcing?
Growing up, Vik Giri, Co-founder of TERRA THREAD, experienced food insecurity firsthand and understands the toll it takes on individuals and families. That personal experience drove a commitment to give back whenever possible. Now that we are in a position to lend a hand, partnering with Feeding America allows us to directly address food insecurity faced by many right here in the U.S. It ties into our Fair Trade values: taking care of human beings and ensuring basic needs are met, whether across the globe or right in our own backyard. As of September 2026, we are proud to have helped donate over 5.3 million meals.
During an affordability crisis, food insecurity is front and center for a lot of families. How do you think about that local need alongside the global work you’re doing with farmers and factory workers?
For too long, mainstream business has ignored the long-term well-being of people and the planet. The usual fast and cheap approach might cut costs today, but it leaves farmers, workers, and ecosystems far more vulnerable tomorrow. And since we are all interconnected, that impact will ultimately be felt by consumers, too.
Whether we’re helping donate meals to families facing food insecurity in the U.S. or paying fair wages to the factory workers who make our products in India, our goal is the same: treating people with dignity and helping them build stable livelihoods.
What would you want a customer to understand about supply chains and how consumers can make positive impact?
Every day, we buy and use products that were grown or crafted by someone. The people behind those products deserve fair compensation, safe working conditions, and dignity for their labor.
When you choose a Fair Trade Certified product, you are supporting a sustainable system of trade, not aid. Your purchase helps support farmers and workers, strengthen communities, and build a more responsible and sustainable system.
BLK & Bold: 5% for Our Youth
Pictured: Pernell Cezar Jr & Rod Johnson, Co-founders of BLK & Bold Specialty Beverages.
Tell us about 5% for Our Youth. What problem were you trying to solve when you built that commitment into the business?
We want to make consumers aware of how impactful their daily purchases can be, but also make it simple. The commitment is built into the budget so that we show up for youth in need during strong years and not-so-strong years, especially considering kids age out of systems every year. That includes foster care, the justice system, whatever the pipeline, without the résumé, the network, or the belief that someone’s rooting for them. We didn’t want “giving back” to be a good-year decision, a line item we vote on when margins allow it. I wanted it written into how the business runs, full stop.
How does your Fair Trade commitment connect to your mission of investing in youth organizations here in the U.S.?
On paper, Fair Trade and 5% for Our Youth look like two different programs: one’s about producers thousands of miles away, one’s about kids here at home. But they come from the same instinct: don’t let distance, whether it’s geography or opportunity, be the reason somebody gets left out of what the business generates. Fair Trade says the person who grew this doesn’t get forgotten because they’re not in the room. 5% for Our Youth says the same thing about a teenager who’s never had someone tell them what’s possible. Same value, pointed in two directions.
What would you say to consumers who want to make a positive impact while watching grocery budgets?
If you’re watching your grocery budget, and most people are right now, I’m not going to tell you to spend more out of guilt. That’s not the ask. The ask is smaller: where you already spend, spend it somewhere that’s doing something with it. You don’t have to donate to make an impact. You can buy the coffee that already built the impact into the price. I grew up in Gary, Indiana, watching what happens when investment skips a place for a generation. I don’t need you to save the world with your coffee budget. I need you to know this cup already tried.
What’s one story from a youth organization you’ve supported that shows what local impact really looks like?
From our partner in Los Angeles, LA Conservation Corps: Damien’s story is one of resilience, personal growth, and the transformative power of a second chance. After years of instability, family hardship, exposure to violence, unemployment, and homelessness, he found himself without a clear path forward. He joined the Corps and was able to gain on-the-job experience and get access to barrier removal services and training. The Corps gave him a chance to rebuild his life and develop a new sense of accountability, purpose, and direction.
The most life-changing impact of the Corps was the stability it provided. Through paid work, supportive mentors, career development, and a community that believed in him, Damien was able to move from surviving day to day while living in a car to planning for a future career in construction. The Corps not only helped him support his family with his wages and rental assistance, it also gave him a chance to complete driver’s training and obtain his driver’s license, a common barrier to employment for young people in Los Angeles. Beyond the technical skills he learned, Damien also gained confidence, hope, practical skills, and a belief in his own potential, ultimately changing the trajectory of his life.
Fair Trade Month
During Fair Trade Month, what do you want customers to take away about the connection between where they spend and who that spending supports, both globally and locally?
TERRA THREAD: Every time you buy something, you are voting for the kind of world you want to live in. This Fair Trade Month, we want consumers to know how much power they actually have. When you choose to buy from an ethical business, you’re telling other companies that they need to do better. Because when a business wants to do the right thing, it can. That dollar doesn’t stop at the register. It helps cotton farmers receive fair pay, and it helps put food on the table for families right down the street.
BLK & Bold: What I want people to walk away with is a habit of asking one question: who’s on the other end of this? Fair Trade Month is a good excuse to ask it out loud, but the point isn’t the month. Every purchase already has an answer to that question, whether you ask it or not. For us, the answer runs two directions: a farmer growing the coffee, and a kid who benefits from what selling that coffee funds. Same dollar, two people who never meet, both better off because of where you decided to spend it.
What’s next for your Fair Trade or community impact work that you’re excited about?
BLK & Bold: Right now I’m most excited about giving the BLK & Bold Foundation its own gravity: not just an extension of the brand, but real fundraising, real partnerships, a board. And we are exploring bringing BLK & Bold into the physical space, which will lend itself to economic mobility work, not just selling coffee. That’s the next chapter: BLK & Bold, the social enterprise.
TERRA THREAD: We are excited to keep building on this momentum. From expanding our regenerative organic cotton projects directly with farming communities to helping donate meals to families facing hunger in the U.S., we are staying true to our roots. We want to keep raising the bar for plastic-free, ethical business and prove that companies can be a force for good.