After a study abroad trip to Chile last year, two students were inspired to create a Fair Trade Festival as their senior project. The festival will happen tomorrow at Mitchell Park.
“Being able to see the poverty firsthand made me realize how important fair trade is,” business senior Tess Gellerman said.
Fair trade is a global movement to promote the ethical sourcing of products. This requires the products to be made, grown, manufactured as well as imported and exported by workers who are getting paid substantial salaries. Fair trade’s biggest concern is the improvement of the lives of all people involved in manufacturing and selling a product.
“I think fair trade is something that people really don’t understand,” business senior Jessica Moylan said. “People might be willing to pay a little more money if they know the reason why.”
To call an organization fair trade, the group must be inspected and certified by FLO-CERT, a branch of the non-profit company Fair Trade Organizations International. To be certified means the grower, importer and vendor practice the standards set by FLO-International and is willing to maintain those standards in all aspects of their business. Although the certification process can be expensive, large companies like Starbucks and Peet’s Coffee and Tea purchase a few fair trade coffees and are working with their growers to become fair trade certified.
One of the main appeals for fair trade consumers is the requirement of producers to maintain fair trade practices.
“I think it’s great when people talk about bringing ethics into making purchases,” Gellerman said.
This weekend’s festival aims to educate the public and showing people what fair trade products have to offer. Gellerman and Moylan think most people only know about coffee and chocolate, but they say it goes beyond these items. The organizers decided to make sure to have diverse vendors and show people that there is a wide variety of products that can be bought fair trade.
Most of the vendors at the festival are located here in San Luis Obispo County, including SLO Chai and Acholi Beads. The only out of town vendor is a group called Fair Tribe from Northern California. Having locally owned businesses was another way to not only entice people into coming to the festival, but show locals fair trade is a large part of the community.
Gellerman and Moylan also want to encourage students to go to the festival, learn something new and maybe even pique their interest in fair trade.
“We’re consumers too,” Moylan said. “It would be good to get to know more about fair trade and ethical sourcing locally and around the world.”