Fair Trade Month is the perfect time to explore ethical brands that are working to make a difference and fight poverty around the world.

Fair Trade USA first launched in 1998; the nonprofit organization certifies and labels products that promote sustainable livelihoods for farmers and strive for eco-conscious methods.

If you want to take steps toward fairer consumption but don’t have the time or the resources to seek out some of the tougher-to-find brands, these are some of our favorites that are easy to support: most of these are easy to order online or find in major retailers like Target.

Try to make a commitment for Fair Trade Month to purchase at least one Fair Trade Certified product every time you shop; these brands are all a great place to start.

1. Patagonia

One of the most popular and established Fair Trade clothing companies is Patagonia. Not only does this activewear company donate one percent of its sales to grassroots environmental groups all over the world, more than 15,700 workers have benefitted from the premiums Patagonia has paid through the Fair Trade Certified program.

Patagonia first launched its fair trade line in 2014, with just ten items made in a single factory. Today, Patagonia counts 480 fair trade items made in 14 different factories spanning countries in Asia and across the Americas.

“The benefits of the program have exceeded our expectations,” says Thuy Nguyen, manager of social and environmental responsibility. “In addition to the premiums raising wages, our factories have reported improved worker morale and engagement. Since workers actively participate in the program, they understand and appreciate what Fair Trade can do. Few social programs have such a sweeping impact.”

2. Indigenous

Indigenous is a fashion brand committed to Fair Trade production.

The company got its start in 1993, when co-founder Scott Leonard traveled to South America and discovered clothing and textiles made by local artisans. Today, the California-based company works with fair trade artisan partners in Peru to create fashionable lines of clothing that are fair, ethical, and eco-friendly.

Pieces span contemporary looks like organic jersey maxi skirts and stretchy riding pants with pieces inspired by traditional, local fabrics, like alpaca artisan knit ponchos and Peruvian-inspired knit sweaters. All of these products are fair trade and support local communities.

“Indigenous commitments are steadfast,” explains the company of its ethical philosophy. “Even as fashion trends come and go.”

3. EcoVibe

Established in 2010, EcoVibe Apparel is a fair trade clothing company founded by Leonard and Andrea Allen, the former a veteran of the apparel and fashion industry and the latter a natural health and wellness professional.

“The concepts of Eco Fashion and Sustainable Fashion mean different things to different individuals,” explains the company. “We cannot be everything to everyone, but we keep the planet and people in mind in all that we do.”

The company’s clothing is made with sustainable materials like modal, a soft rayon fabric made from the pulp of beech trees; bamboo fabric that drapes like silk or satin; and cork leather from renewable cork forests in Portugal, and one percent of all sales are donated to 1% For The Planet, an international organization focused on supporting the environment.

4. Global Goods Partners

Global Goods Partners is a nonprofit company founded in 2005. Its aim is to create economic opportunities for women by providing access to the U.S. market in order to sell their products.

The company offers a curated collection of fair trade, handmade products on its website including jewelry, bags, scarves, home goods, and even stuffed toys for children. The products are made by more than 3,000 women in 20 countries across the globe.

5. Kashi

This household name in breakfast cereal and meal bars has long been at the forefront of sustainable and forward-thinking food production. Not only did Kashi establish a transitional organic label earlier this year, but it has also begun integrating ingredients certified by Fair Trade USA into its offerings, such as the cocoa in its cocoa shredded wheat cereal and its Cocoa Awakening breakfast blend, as well as the chocolate in its GoLean Chocolate Crunch cereal.

6. Honest Tea

Honest Tea was the first company to market Fair Trade Certified bottled tea, and its acquisition by Coca-Cola in 2011 didn’t change that. Honest Tea remains an independent operating unit that is now even more widely distributed than it was before the acquisition.

“We strive to grow our business with the same honesty and integrity we use to craft our recipes, with sustainability and great taste for all,” says the company.

Fair Trade premiums paid by the company now total over $200,000 annually.

7. Pacific Foods

When Pacific Foods was first founded in 1987, it produced mainly plant-based foods. The company has now expanded its repertoire to include free-range chicken, vegetable, and beef broths, prepared soups, meals, and sides. With an aim to source locally and work with organic producers whenever possible, Pacific Foods has also expanded into fair trade products, such as fair trade certified cashews in its cashew plant-based beverage.

8. barkTHINS

This company, first founded in 2013, makes chocolate-based snacks with Fair Trade dark chocolate and non-GMO add-ins. Flavors include coconut-almond, pretzel and sea salt, and blueberry with quinoa crunch. These snacks are available widely at retailers like Shaw’s and Target as well as online.

9. Tony’s Coffee

Coffee was the first Fair Trade Certified product to hit the market when Fair Trade USA launched in 1998, and it remains the leader in fair trade production: over 1 billion pounds of coffee have been certified since 1998.

Tony’s Coffee was founded well before, in 1971. Today, the coffeehouse produces roasts from around the world, including several fair-trade and organic blends. The company’s products are easily found online, either as one-time orders or as part of the company’s coffee club.

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U.S. flower giants are beginning to respond to criticism over abusive labor practices.

For conscious consumers, the hypocrisy is striking every Mother’s Day: those colorful blossoms given to brighten Mom’s day are most likely produced under a dark cloud of abuse that often harms female workers most. Before buying a bouquet, consider selecting a Fair Trade-designated arrangement from either FTD or 1-800 Flowers.

The U.S. Labor Education in the Americas Project reports that in Colombia and Ecuador, the two largest flower exporters to the U.S., workers earn poverty-level wages. What’s more, 55% of women workers in Ecuador have been victims of sexual harassment, and 66% of all workers suffer from work-related health problems due to handling dangerous pesticides. This exposure causes workers to experience higher rates of premature births, congenital malformations, and miscarriages. The stress heightens during the busy season, when workers can put in 70-80 hour work weeks with no overtime pay.

In February, Change.org drew a bulls-eye on 1-800-Flowers, calling for a boycott of the flower provider for Valentine’s Day due to these barbaric practices. More than 50,000 members signed a petition urging the flower giant to offer fair trade selections by Mother’s Day.

The company responded, offering six new, clearly labeled arrangements (Change.org called for five), and three fair trade gift baskets. The “Planet Friendly Smile” prices are only slightly higher than the conventional choices. The flowers in these selections were grown and picked in accordance with fair trade criteria and are certified by Fair Trade USA.

1-800 Flowers is now reportedly working to increase its transparency and is moving towards partnering with more fair trade-governed flower farms. Customers need to encourage a full-scale operational transformation by buying these newly available selections. Consumers always have a vote by deciding where and how to spend their money.

Change.org has also turned its eye on FTD, but the company needed little urging before it followed 1-800 Flowers’ lead. FTD hasn’t come as far as 1-800 Flowers yet, but they offer five fair trade arrangements and, we hope, will move toward greater transparency in sourcing soon. 1-800 Flowers and FTD are both major U.S. flower vendors, so if their lines are successful, it will set a powerful precedent.

image: Pink Sherbert Photography

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Fair Trade USA, the only third-party fair trade-certifier in the U.S, has launched a clothing certification that guarantees consumers that the clothing they purchase was not made in a sweatshop.

Heather Franzese, Senior Category Manager for Apparels and Linens at Fair Trade USA has led the development of international fair trade garment certification standards, meeting with cotton farmers and garment factory owners all over the world. I was told by the company that “On any given day, she might Skype with or visit in person workers and factories in India, Peru, Liberia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Bangladesh, Costa Rica, or Nicaragua. She can speak about Fair Trade garments from the perspective of a worker, a factory owner, a cotton farmer and a U.S garment business owner.”

Pretty impressive.

Both the farms where the cotton is grown and the factories where the clothing is sewn are inspected and certified to ensure that there are both better working conditions and higher incomes for both farmers and traditionally underpaid garment workers.

Hopefully, Fair Trade USA will eventually work with the U.S where many farmers and garment factory workers stateside could use the help as well.

I caught up with Franzese to find out more about the launch of the certification for garments and textiles currently being set up in underdeveloped countries. Here’s what she had to say:

When did you launch the new certification?

Fair Trade Certified clothing is brand new in the U.S. The pilot standards for Fair Trade factories were published in March 2010 after several years in development. During a public comment period last year, we heard from 55 organizations in 15 countries and incorporated that input into the certification standards and process.

What brands have joined on as part of the certification?

A dozen pioneering companies have committed to launch Fair Trade Certified apparel and house wares. Organic pioneers like Maggie’s Organics and Indigenous Designs, as well as brand new eco-fashion brands like Liberty & Justice, which produces tees at a factory in Liberia that focuses on women’s empowerment.

Are there any Fair Trade farms you’re working with in the U.S?

Not at this time. Fair Trade was started in order to level the playing field for poor farming communities in the developing world, to extend the same social and safety protections that we enjoy here in the U.S but don’t exist in developing countries, and to help empower farming communities through vibrant, global trade. That said, we know there are also inequities here in the U.S and that farmers and workers could benefit from Fair Trade certification.

Today, Fair Trade cotton is grown by 37 certified cotton farmer groups in 10 countries: India, Mali, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Senegal, Egypt, Peru, Brazil, Nicaragua and Kyrgyzstan. A little goes a long way in these countries. In Mali, for example, 95 percent of children of Fair Trade farmers go to school because farming communities receive more money. This is more than double the national average for school attendance in the fourth poorest country on earth.

Do you think Fair Trade certifications empower us as consumers?

Yes. We believe that certification helps consumers make every purchase matter. Fair Trade Certified apparel gives you a way to vote with your dollars for an alternative to sweatshops. For 15 years, we’ve been hearing about companies sourcing from sweatshops but the only information on the tag inside your shirt is the country where it’s made. That doesn’t tell you anything about the working conditions. Now, for the first time, you can walk into a clothing store and translate your concern about sweatshops into real dollars and cents for the farmers and workers that make your clothes, just by choosing apparel with the Fair Trade Certified label.

How are you able to monitor the farms and manufacturing facilities?

Fair Trade USA works with a network of local partners to conduct training and inspections at cotton farms and sewing facilities in countries like India, Peru, Costa Rica and Liberia. We also train workers on their rights and how to contact us if they feel that Fair Trade standards are not being met. This empowers workers to become monitors of their own workplace.

Can you explain how your “Fair-Trade Premiums” and “Worker-Controlled Funds” work?

Fair Trade premiums are funds that are specifically earmarked for social and community investment. For each item of Fair Trade Certified clothing you buy, the company selling it pays a percentage of the cost directly into a fund that is controlled by workers in the factory where the clothing was sewn. Workers collectively decide how they want to spend the money.

In my travels over the last year to factories in India, Peru and Liberia, workers have told me they want computer and literacy classes, scholarships for their children to go to high school and college, child care, health clinics and small business loans. In essence, the same kinds of things we want for our communities.

Cotton farmers also earn a Fair Trade premium. I visited cotton farmers in India in January that had used Fair Trade earnings to buy a mill to process lentils and sell them locally to earn more for their families.

When we talk about the idea of sustainability, how does Fair Trade fit in and how important is it?

In Fair Trade, we see sustainability as both an environmental as well as a socio-economic issue. Fair Trade has strict environmental standards that prohibit GMOs and limit or prohibit the use of pesticides on the Pesticide Action Network’s Dirty Dozen list. These can be harmful to the environment and to farmers’ health. Nearly half of Fair Trade Certified products imported into the U.S. in 2009 were also certified organic, and even more producers are using earnings from Fair Trade to fund their transition to organic production. Farmers also establish local environmental plans to manage waste, water and energy, and reduce soil erosion.

And then there is socio-economic stability. Fair Trade provides the foundation for vibrant trade through access to credit, international markets and training so that communities become empowered.

It’s a development effort to build trade and independence, not simply give aid that can result in dependence.

Image: upyernoz

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It’s amazing how many people are going to be a part of EcoSalon Shops!

Zhena’s Gypsy Tea is one, and I’m so glad they are, for several reasons.

One, I can’t wait to enjoy the fruity notes of Gypsy’s hot and cold tea samples that will be shared at the event.

Two, I love their story.

In 2000, founder Zhena Muzyka’s son, Sage, was born with a severe birth defect. Zhena had no health coverage to manage Sage’s mountain of medical bills, and she was struggling to make ends meet. But she was determined to earn the money it would take to pay for the surgeries that would save Sage’s life. Drawing on her degree in aromatherapy and a love of tea, and backed by a little seed money from friends and family, Zhena embraced her Ukranian Gypsy heritage and became a tea cart peddler on California street corners.

Zhena was undeterred, believing that her tins would purvey much more than tea – she saw hope for the future and her son. These days, Sage is a very healthy boy, and Zhena’s Gypsy Tea is an award winning brand.

Zhena’s Gypsy Tea offers not only teas but herbal infusions, producing hand-crafted, all natural and organic beverages that are 100% organic and 100% Fair Trade certified.

Come meet us this Friday, and stay for some tea, won’t you?

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