Our Values
At Fair Corp we pride ourselves in setting the very highest ethical standards; putting people and the planet first in everything that we do. We draw on over 30 years of experience in sourcing and developing groundbreaking Fair Trade and eco-friendly products; never compromising our ethical standards.
Transparency is crucial to our ethos and we will always have clear case study examples of how our producers benefit from working with us, and how Fair Trade premiums are spent.
Our Products Always Combine Environmental Sustainability with Social Justice
- All of our cotton products are certified organic and Fairtrade
- All of our rubber is certified by The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and is fairly traded
- All of our ETHLETIC sports balls and ETHLETIC trainers carry the official FAIRTRADE mark as well as the FSC label
- We will always use the FAIRTRADE mark where the criteria exists to use it. If there is no FAIRTRADE criteria for a product or material, then we will use our own Fair Trade standards to ensure that our producers receive a fair deal for the products or material they create
Our Accreditations
The FAIRTRADE Mark
The Famous FAIRTRADE mark that is now widely recognised throughout the UK and the World is the most robust and well known of the hundreds of ethical labels that are now displayed on products throughout the world.
The following is an extract from the Fairtrade Foundation's website:
"Fairtrade is a strategy for poverty alleviation and sustainable development. Its purpose is to create opportunities for producers and workers who have been economically disadvantaged or marginalized by the conventional trading system. If fair access to markets under better trade conditions would help them to overcome barriers to development, they can join Fairtrade."
Fairtrade is a tool for development that ensures disadvantaged farmers and workers in developing countries get a better deal through the use of the international FAIRTRADE Mark.
Fairtrade Labelling was created in the Netherlands in the late 1980s. The Max Havelaar Foundation launched the first Fairtrade consumer guarantee label in 1988 on coffee sourced from Mexico. Here in the UK, the Fairtrade Foundation was established in 1992, with the first products to carry the FAIRTRADE Mark launched in 1994.
In 1997 an international body was established to unite the various national FAIRTRADE marks under one unifying umbrella; The Fairtrade Labelling Organisation (FLO) was established in Bonn with Fair Corp's sourcing partner Dr Martin Kunz established as the first General Secretary.
For a product to carry the FAIRTRADE mark it must meet sourcing standards which are set and monitored by FLO. These standards are agreed through a consultation process that involves all stakeholders including producers, buyers and experts in the field.
If a product carries the FAIRTRADE mark it guarantees that the producers of the product have received a fair price for their produce and that a further FAIRTRADE premium has been paid. This pays for additional social, economic or environmental projects that benefit the producerís local community. For more information on how our Fairtrade premiums are spent please click here. For more information on the FAIRTRADE mark please click here.
The FSC Label
"Products carrying the FSC label are independently certified to assure consumers that they come from forests that are managed to meet the social, economic and ecological needs of present and future generations", Rosie Teasdale FSC UK.
We use the FSC label on all of our products that contain natural rubber, as rubber is a Forestry product and we use the only source of FSC certified natural rubber in the world. Look out for the FSC logo on our Footballs, Footwear and Homeware.
The Fair Trade Rubber Logo
Our sourcing partners Fair Deal Trading, pay a Fair Trade premium on every kilo of rubber purchased which supports health and welfare projects for rubber tappers and their communities. If you see this label it means that the rubber used in the product has been fairly traded.
The Best Buy Label
The Best Buy Label has been developed by the Ethical Consumer Magazine to identify outstanding ethical products that lead the field in both ethical standards and quality. The Ethical Consumer buyer's guide report into fashion trainers looked at a number of areas including workers' rights, code of conduct, animal issues and environmental issues raised by trainer production.
As a result of the report Ethical Consumer awarded ETHLETIC trainers with a Best Buy Label. ETHLETIC trainers were one of the first products to be awarded the Best Buy Label and we are very proud to have it!
Other Ways We Are Ethical...
Our Warehouse is a Social Enterprise
All of our UK stock is held at the Pack-IT Warehouse in Cardiff, Wales. The Pack-IT Group is a social enterprise which provides online fulfillment, storage, distribution and mailing services.
A social enterprise is a business created for the employment of people with a disability or other disadvantage in the labour market.
- It is a business which uses its market-oriented production of goods and services to pursue its social mission
- A significant number of its employees will be people with a disability or other disadvantage in the labour market
- Every worker is paid a market wage or salary appropriate to the work, whatever their productive capacity
- Work opportunities should be equal between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged employees
- All employees should have the same rights and obligations
Sea Freight Opposed to Air Freight
We always try to import all of our products using sea freight opposed to air freight. Unfortunately, at the moment, there is no method of shipping international goods using eco friendly fuels. Using sea freight is over 1000 times more fuel efficient than air freight.
Tridos - The Ethical Bank
We use the Tridos as our bank, they are a very nice ethical bank who only lend money to people and organisations who are trying to make the world a better place. They also offer you ethical investment opportunities, so why not visit their website www.triodos.co.uk
Eco Web Hosting
Our website is eco-hosted, which provides a carbon-positive alternative to standard website hosting services. Eco Web Hosting has planted over 300 English Oak trees which, at present, absorb more than three times the carbon produced by their servers, aiming to counteract the 3-4% of the world's carbon emissions, and 10% of the UK's energy bill that ICT equipment currently accounts for.
For more information about Eco Web Hosting and the services they offer please visit their green web hosting and 100% carbon neutral hosting website.
A Greener Fairer Future
At Fair Corp HQ we are constantly looking for ways to be more eco-friendly and improve our already high ethical standards. As a result we are looking at a number of new projects that we hope to launch very soon, so we'll keep you updated on these and other news through our newsletter and blog.
Not seen our blog yet? Take a look at our ethical fashion blog with eco / Fairtrade news, views, pics and things we love (and hate)!
Or why not sign up to our ethical / eco newsletter?
