“Before you’ve finished your breakfast this morning,
you’ll have relied on half the world”

(Martin Luther King)

An interesting thought. And a depressing one, when you realise that those people you’ve relied on for your coffee and muesli are almost certainly being exploited and oppressed by the unfair power balance in world trade.

And this isn’t just your coffee in the morning … What do we read on the labels of our clothes? Made in China, Taiwan, Thailand, Bangladesh, India, … That doesn’t sound very good either. We all know what’s going on, but apparently we choose to ignore that. I’m guilty too, i’m not just pointing fingers here.

But what can we do right? Surely it’s beyond our control. NO! WRONG!
We can buy Fair Trade products, now there’s a thought!
Hmm, i hear you sigh, and so am i. We don’t like these small, incence-smelling shops with overaged hippies on sandals behind the counter. No sir, that’s just not very cool.

But luckily organic, eco, fair trade, and similar terms are no longer synonymous to that! Hot and hip brands are - finally - finding their way to the fair trade market. Starbucks for example has signed an historic agreement with Ethiopia. Now that cup of coffee must taste a whole lot better, doesn’t it? Then we have Delhaize, a ‘hip’ supermarket, who was the first in Belgium introducing a wide variety of fair trade and bio products available in their stores. This trend was easily followed by numerous biological brands, shops and restaurants who all translated this idea into a fashionable, hip and cool thing. Off course the industrial design-industry couldn’t stay behind on the ‘do-good-for-the-world-trend’ and came up with (RED). Now - again, finally - the fashion industry is coming to its senses. Organic cotton and sewing factories with a social code of conduct are slowly finding their way into our wardrobe. I’m thinking about brands like Kuyichi, Imps & Elfs, Alchemist, Jackpot, Moodstreet, … all produced in a sustainable manner and hardly looking like the hippie clothes we think about when we hear fair trade right?

There, now we know it’s possible. The train is right there for us to get on …

Tinka Bell is thinking in the same direction. Not sure yet how to do this, but it seems to be there are loads of references out there to get started with. Back to work now, more research to do!