All the Fun of the Fairtrade Fair

It’s official. York is a Fairtrade town. Don’t know what that means? Neither did we, until we immersed ourselves in this year’s Fairtrade Fortnight. This year the Fairtrade Foundation are asking the nation to join them by swapping an everyday item for a Fairtrade alternative, be it a bar of chocolate or a bunch of bananas. Every swap registered on fairtrade.org.uk will go further to show that the UK is dedicated to helping producers in the developing world get a fair deal.

To make things even easier for you, we’ve gone all ‘Comparethemarket.com’ and carried out a price survey in your on-campus one-stop-shop, Costcutter. So if you’re a Galaxy Guy or Gal, you can swap your chocolate fix for newly Fairtrade Cadbury at the same price and get not just an extra three grams for your coins, but a feel-good glow that will last even longer than the chocolatey goodness. Sadly, not all fairly sourced products are as affordable as Cadbury, and whilst 70% of York residents claim to be regular purchasers of Fairtrade, our survey revealed that only one in seven students have the same shopping habits.

Nevertheless York has maintained its Fairtrade Town status for its fifth year, which means that not only is there an active support group (York Fairtrade Forum) in the area, but that fair products are widely available across the town. To test this claim we here at Vision visited some of the city’s finer Fairtrade establishments to sample their goods and bring you a review of the best of the bunch.

But moving on from our favourite subject of food, to our second favourite subject – fashion. You’d be forgiven for thinking that Fairtrade fashion is all crocheted tousers and shoes made from hemp, but times are changing! With Topshop and Asos both launching their own Fairtrade lines this month you can now get your fashion fix whilst supporting cotton growers and making use of reclaimed fabrics. Check out Asos for the surprisingly preppy cable knit jumpers and cropped sweat pants of Emma Watson’s new line, or head over to Topshop for reasonably priced, quality Summer basics such as feminine tunic dresses, leggings and this nautical bandaeu swimming costume by designer Annie Greenabelle.

In case you were thinking we at Vision Lifestyle have spent our research time for this issue online shopping, eating Divine chocolate and drinking Fairtrade coffee, we also attended an event of the more cerebral sort when People and Planet hosted a debate on the topic ‘How Fair is Fairtrade?’ on campus. Whilst the debate seemed rather weighted in favour of Fairtrade, Freedom Society President Sam Westrop nevertheless held his own in favour of more radical Free Trade. Also speaking were Mark Dawson, President of the York Fairtrade Forum, Barbara Crowther of the Fairtrade Foundation and James Cussens, a senior lecturer at the university.

The fast-paced and passionate debate brought up the difficult issue of Carbon Footprint versus Social Footprint. Audience members asked whether supporting farmers thousands of miles away could be reconciled with the current trend for eating as a ‘Locavore’ – buying food from within a one hundred mile radius. The panel conceded that it was a difficult matter, but reminded us that the producers of these goods have a virtually non-existent carbon footprint, and that we must not focus only on our environmental concerns at the expense of our social impact.

After all that high brow debate we took to the streets of York for the Festival market, where, for three days only Fairtrade produce from around the world takes over Parliament Street. Among the goods on offer were beautifully illustrated Fairtrade chocolate (we stocked up!), stunning enamel bowls, hand-knitted scarves (from Fairtrade wool, of course) and soft-as-butter leather bags. The friendly stall holders were more than happy to chat to us about their ethical concerns, and why Fairtrade is important to their business.

However the Fairtrde Foundation are keen that people swap to ethical shopping for life, not just for a couple of weeks (we’ve been devouring Divine Chocolate in the office this week, and are definitely lifetime converts). With so many purveyors of fabulous quality, ethically traded goods in our fine city (see our column for ideas!) there’s never been a better time to start shopping fairly.Though you’ll have to race us to One Boutique!