Taking Fair Trade to the Mainstream
We know many of our customers love the jewellery we stock from Just Trade. Their designs are perfect for our shop, and the projects they work with are a true inspiration, keeping traditional skills and crafts alive while offering opportunities to disadvantaged groups in India, Peru and Ecuador.
It really lifted my spirits to see this fantastic photo of Ali Cave, the Operations Director at Just Trade.
Ali is pictured loading a huge order which Just Trade received from Laura Ashley, one of the best-known names in terms of interior design on the British High Street. Laura Ashely have bought stock to go into all 200 of their stores in the UK, as well as it going to their Japanese franchise.
Ali told me, "They have ordered across all three projects we work with. So crochet from Peru, Tagua from Ecuador and Brass from India. The work really helped our producers get back on their feet after the earthquake in Ecuador."
You might think it's a bit odd that I'm getting so excited about seeing one of our core product ranges being distributed to another shop, which might be seen as a competitor of ours. But for us at Eighteen Rabbit, this is exactly what we're all about! We don't want to be pigeonholed simply as a "fair trade shop" to be treated in the same way as a charity shop. Our mission from the very beginning has been to take fair trade into the mainstream - to attract customers who simply love the products we sell. Ultimately, as we're fond of saying, we want to make "fair trade" obsolete - what we're doing should be the norm, rather than the virtuous exception.
Huge congratulations from all of us here at Eighteen Rabbit to Ali and the team for all their hard work. Look out for Just Trade products in Laura Ashley stores from October, and remember where you saw them first - you can be ahead of the curve by ordering your favourite from us today!
