Traidcraft
Discover Traidcraft’s collection of fair trade gifts, homewares, toys, fashion and food from artisans and growers worldwide.
The forward-thinkers at Traidcraft have been doing fair trade before fair trade was even a thing – they actually helped establish the movement here in the UK.
In the 1980s, they introduced the first fair trade tea, coffee, sugar and chocolate to the country, helping set up Cafédirect in 1991. A year later, they co-founded the Fairtrade Foundation, which created the Fairtrade Mark and defined the standards that underpin it.
Traidcraft is synonymous with supporting organic farming, sustainability and transparency, as well as helping preserve traditional skills and celebrating creativity and culture.
The social enterprise works with people in developing countries, often those in marginalised communities who are excluded from mainstream business. They have strong partnerships with fair trade co-operatives, traditional artisans and small-scale growers, giving people a chance to transform their lives.
Every single item in the Traidcraft range is sourced following fair trade principles, even those not covered by the standards that allow a Fairtrade Mark to be applied.
Before setting up Traidcraft, Richard Adams had been running Tearcraft (part of a charity called Tearfund), which he established to help people in Bangladesh after a devastating typhoon. The idea was to support through trade, not just aid, by selling homewares made by Bangladeshi craftspeople back in the UK.
Richard used his experience to found Traidcraft in 1979, continuing to import goods directly from global artisans and growers to sell in the UK – but on a larger scale. They published their first hand-drawn catalogue that year.
Decades later, Richard and the Traidcraft team remain as committed to fair trade today as they were in the very beginning. Getting to know their suppliers and understand their needs and ambitions is still at the heart of what they do.
Founded By
Richard Adams
