Fair Trade Supporters Newsletter (October 2022)

WFTO has been formally accepted as a member of the Green Economy Coalition, a broad network of allies working for structural economic reform. Together with trade unions, progressive businesses, NGOs, UN agencies and citizen’s groups, WFTO is moved by the belief that green and fair economies are possible, necessary, and achievable. Click here to read more about the Green Economy Coalition and its projects. 

We are proud to share the product of our collaboration with STUDIO MM04 and WFTO Members: the WFTO Fashion Lookbook 2022, which displays the unique beauty of fashion garments that truly reflect our commitment to intertwine traditional craft skills into a modern global aesthetic. Click here to view the Fashion Lookbook.

The Fair Trade International Symposium (19-21 June 2023) is the leading global gathering for scholars, practitioners and policymakers working on Fair Trade. At the Leeds FTIS event there will be workshops and panels taking place in person, complemented by some online and hybrid sessions to enable the participation of people both locally and internationally. Please email contact confadmin@leeds.ac.uk for all registration and submission queries.

How can we scale up the best practices of Fair Trade Towns to reach more towns and cities across the planet? How can local leaders engage more citizens and businesses to support Fair Trade? Join the conference in person or online by registering for free here. From the 21th-23rd of October, delegations from the international and Latin American Cities for the Fair Trade campaign will be gathering in Quito (Ecuador), to bring to our attention the role of Fair Trade in achieving sustainable cities and local economic development (agenda at this link). The President and the Chief Executive, Roopa Mehta and Leida Rijnhout will be there to represent WFTO.

How does Fair Trade influence and support wider or alternative movements, organisations and activities? How can Fair Trade thinking and practice benefit from complementary movements and activities, both in the South and the North? How can we establish new connections and what are the opportunities to extend and reimagine existing connections? We invite contributions from all academic disciplines, or across disciplines, and from campaigners and activists working on fair trade and related fields. Submission details and registration deadline can be found by following this link.

As part of our Small But Perfect project, WFTO is working to foster the growth of a global network of actors from the circular fashion ecosystem and facilitate cross-border collaboration for transitioning to Fair Fashion. We are partnering with Common Objective (CO), the online community of 45,000 suppliers, buyers and advocates committed to fashion and sustainability. Join the WFTO Hub on CO (for free) to get matched with content, training and partnership opportunities to promote what you do. Join a network of like-minded innovators who care about people and planet as much as they love fashion. Create your profile on Common Objective, join the Small but Perfect network and kick-start the change!