Blog

It’s important for us as consumers to be mindful of where our food comes from and fair trade foods with a traceable provenance are a great way to make sure we know what we’re getting. ‘Mama Buci’ honey stocked in Harrogate Fair Trade Shop is the real deal! It’s pure honey made by wild African bees from the Zambian Miombo forests, collected in specially designed and hand-built top-bar hives which hang in the trees. Education is key for the enterprise, encouraging more sustainable ways of working with the land; and profits go back into helping more families acquire beehives as well as supporting local communities.

We just love recycled products at Harrogate Fair Trade! With some products it’s impossible to tell until you read the label, while others wear their recycled heart on their sleeve. Zuri Design cards, made in Uganda from locally sourced pineapple tops, elephant grass and banana fibre, are definitely one of those. 

Why the future of chocolate Is becoming uncertain

How easy it is to buy chocolate without giving much thought to where it comes from! For many people it’s just a little treat added to the weekly shop. Yet the choices we make today will impact the sustainability of cocoa farming in the years to come, including whether chocolate itself remains affordable. 

 A Fair Trade partnership that values people, materials and time. After harvesting the fruit, banana plants have to be cut back so that they regrow...

 This Christmas, Dalit candles bring light into your home and hope to the communities who made them. In December, many of us find comfort in small ...

Stars that bring people together.

In India, paper stars are hung for every kind of celebration: Diwali, Christmas, Eid. The same symbol shines across faiths and communities, a joyful reminder that light transcends religion, culture and geography. The same handmade stars that illuminate homes in Jaipur also hang in Scandinavian windows and glow from Christmas markets across Europe. Wherever they shine, they tell a story of connection.

Each star is handmade in Northern India through a long-standing fair trade partnership built on equality, trust and friendship. Paper Starlights is co-owned by British and Indian families who have worked side by side for almost thirty years. Their collaboration is rooted in mutual respect, shared responsibility and the belief that fair trade is about people first.

Across the world, more than 42 million people have been forced from their homes. Families leave behind not only their houses and possessions, but also their livelihoods and their sense of belonging. Many of those displaced are highly skilled makers — weavers, embroiderers, felters, woodcarvers — whose talents risk being lost to exile.

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), working with the World Fair Trade Organisation, has created MADE51, a global initiative to bring refugee craftsmanship to an international market. It’s a powerful idea: rather than depending solely on aid, refugees can use their skills to earn an income, regain pride and dignity, and contribute to the communities where they now live. Working together in a supportive environment and using skills from their homeland helps them to heal from trauma. 

Burkina Faso in West Africa has more than its fair share of problems. Regional violence has spilled over from the north and brought refugees with it. It’s seen as a risky country to invest in, making it hard create the changes it needs. 

Swiss fairtrade company Gebana thinks differently. Their mission is to “change global trade in favour of family farmers, local economies and the environment” and this means facing risks head on. They’ve worked in Bobo-Dioulasso in the south west of the country for over 20 years, creating close links with farmers, buying directly from them and giving them a share of the profits. 

Gebana has also built a factory there, where mango is dried and cashews are processed - another way of investing in the people of the country by creating jobs, rather than just shipping the raw product straight out of the country. 

People are often a bit surprised to see that we sell footballs! Perhaps because they don’t fit with the idea of a fair trade product. It’s probably because, like me, they never really thought about where footballs are made, or how. 

In fact 70% of the worlds footballs are made in the town of Sialkot in Pakistan, in a process that still has a real handmade element. Rather than a shiny automated production line you’ll find people machine stitching, or painstakingly glueing pieces together before putting each football individually into a thermal bonding machine. 

All the balls for the major tournaments are made in Sialkot but, as you might have guessed, no matter how expensive the ball, the pay and working conditions really don’t differ much. A big chunk of the price of a branded ball goes on sponsorship and advertising and very little gets back to the workers themselves. Many of them live at a subsistence level with little support when things go wrong.

Did you know the fashion and textile industry is one of the most polluting in the world? Every year, around 92 million tonnes of textile waste is generated globally – barely worn garments, unsold stock and off cuts, much of it generated by fast fashion.

These fabrics often end up in landfill or are incinerated. Some contain plastic fibres that release microplastics into our waterways. It’s a system built on excess and disposability – and it harms both people and the environment.

But there is another way.

Bring a burst of colour to your summer with our vibrant upcycled textile bunting – now in stock at Harrogate Fair Trade Shop.

Each length is handmade by fair trade artisans in India using rescued off-cuts and old sari fabrics. This helps reduce waste while supporting skilled makers with dignified, fairly paid work.

Cards from Africa was founded to support young Rwandans who have lost their families to genocide, disease, or conflict. Many were traumatised, struggling to survive, and unable to access education or work.

Through card-making in a supportive, fair trade environment, they are earning a steady income and with it the power to shape their futures. They have regained a sense of dignity and purpose.

Anita is one of the young people whose life has been transformed. She lost both her parents when she was young and life was hard. Through Cards from Africa, she has found steady work and is now able to provide for her two young children.