My gift shop (located in a tourist town) has been doing well lately, and I would like to expand my current inventory. I have researched the idea of fair trade and am unable to decide if I should look further into offering fair trade items. However, I don’t want to offend my current supplier artists. Some of them seem to look negatively at the idea of fair trade items being sold alongside their own. However, I don’t intend to sell items in direct competition with their own. I would be looking for gifts that will compliment the work currently in my shop. For example, I have a potter who makes brightly-colored, food-safe dishes. I have been looking into fair trade textile items that would compliment her work, such as place mats, table runners and napkins. Are there any problems you see in this? I love supporting the local artists, but I also feel that artists in other countries who do not have a reachable market should also be represented. And handmade is handmade regardless of country of origin, right? I would like to strongly promote the idea of handmade, and I think this is a great way to do it. Any thoughts?
I have lots of thoughts on this subject. I am a great Tom Friedman fan; the world is flat and getting flatter. With beautiful items being made by hand all over the world there’s no reason you shouldn’t offer some in your shop. Since the criteria you set for new inventory is Fair Trade be certain the handmade items you choose are labeled as Fair Trade. You don’t say whether your shop offers exclusively American handmade items or if you have some manufactured goods as well. Either way, it is your shop and you can proceed in ways that you feel are best for the shop and that support your beliefs. So I would suggest you do the research to find the goods you want. It makes a lot of sense to choose items that compliment but don’t compete with existing goods. Make open to buys for the lines you want to bring in and plan how you will use them. You could go on line and check out Aid To Artisans, this is an organization working to develop Fair Traded product all over the world. Put together a letter to your current accounts setting forth your plans for additional inventory, how you made the decisions and how you will use the goods in your shop. At the same time begin talking to your customers letting them know that they will soon be able to choose from a broader mix of goods. Be clear that you are going forward with this plan and are asking them to be a part of it. As you said handmade is handmade and there is a lot of support from the public for businesses that sell handmade whether American or Fair Traded. Be prepared for some resistance and perhaps loosing some accounts or customers. This shouldn’t keep you from going forward with a plan you believe in and again I would point out it’s your shop.