By Sept. 1, Fair Trade Store will open in downtown Phoenix, providing students a place to buy fair-trade clothing and other products.
The fair-trade movement aims to develop better trading conditions for sometimes marginalized distributors and workers, such as those who are paid at unfairly low rates.
The store, located at Civic Space Park, is a partnership between Karuna Village and Las Otras Hermanas, an organization that was funded by the Edson Student Entrepreneur Initiative at ASU. The Edson Entrepreneur Initiative is a grant program that allows students to start new businesses.
LOH is a nonprofit organization with four programs: producer support, income generation, consumer awareness and community development.
Founder and Executive Director of LOH Charis Elliott, a political science senior, said all of the money goes back into programs, including 20 percent, which goes into their community development program.
Elliot’s brother, Joeral Elliott, the art director for Fair Trade Store, said he thinks the store will greatly benefit the downtown area.
“It integrates a store and social awareness, which is like a gem in this community,” Joeral Elliott said. “Going into stores and shopping, it’s a concept based off capitalism and spending money and you’re not really nurturing ideas or thoughts.”
Sustainability sophomore Kim Pearson, a volunteer for Fair Trade Store, said the store will be slightly more expensive than other stores but worth it.
“With fair trade, you know exactly where your money is going. You’re supporting a group of people that basically depend on this money,” she said, referring to the product manufacturers.
The clothing and fabric made for the store is from a nonprofit organization in Mexico called Aldea. The people who work for Aldea are paid 400 percent above minimum wage and 20 percent above living wage.
“The fact that there is such a huge gap between minimum wage and living wage shows why our program is needed,” Charis Elliott said.
She said the store will carry a variety of products: clothing, toys, books and body care products. The store itself is made of almost 100 percent of sustainable material, from recycled wood or wood made from sunflower seeds or wheat.
The store also plans to incorporate education into the shopping experience.
“We want to engage people in dialogue about fair trade, and the store is the perfect way to sell our clothes as well as to engage the community,” Charis Elliott said. “It’s not a normal shopping experience.”
The store will be run completely by volunteers who are interested in fair trade, she said, and is still seeking volunteers.
“Fair trade is based on dialogue, respect, transparency and dignity,” Charis Elliott said. “It’s a way of trading based on these principles and a way producers are guaranteed a wage, a living wage. The store will help people understand why fair trade is important.”
Reach the reporter at sheydt@asu.edu.
