Worldshops, world shops or Fair Trade Shops are specialized retail outlets offering and promoting Fair Trade products. Worldshops also typically organize various educational Fair Trade activities and play an active role in

trade justice Trade justice is a campaign by non-governmental organisations, plus efforts by other actors, to change the rules and practices of world trade in order to promote fairness. These organizations include consumer groups, trade unions, faith groups, ...

and other North-South political campaigns. Worldshops are often not-for-profit organizations and run by locally based volunteer networks. Although the movement emerged in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

and a vast majority of worldshops are still based on the continent, worldshops can also be found today in North America, Australia,

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

History

The start of the movement is usually attributed to the first worldshop in Europe, which was founded by Oxfam in 1959. The Oxfam shop sold Chinese bric-a-brac that had been sourced from Chinese refugees that had escaped the

Communist revolution A communist revolution is a proletarian revolution often, but not necessarily, inspired by the ideas of Marxism that aims to replace capitalism with communism. Depending on the type of government, socialism can be used as an intermediate stag ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

. However, some sources credit the first fair trade shop that had been opened in the US in 1958, selling Puerto Rican needlework. The shops were not called worldshops at that time, however. Alternative trading organisations imported various

third world The term "Third World" arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either NATO or the Warsaw Pact. The United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Western European nations and their allies represented the " First ...

goods, such as

cane Cane or caning may refer to: *Walking stick or walking cane, a device used primarily to aid walking * Assistive cane, a walking stick used as a mobility aid for better balance *White cane, a mobility or safety device used by many people who are ...

sugar starting in the 1960s, and still continuing today. These goods were sold in "third world shops" or "developing country shops" (the actual name differing from country to country). The most active organisations were operating in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. The term "worldshop" came into existence in the 1990s. In 1994, worldshops organised themselves under the auspices of NEWS, the Network of European Worldshops, who now falls under the

World Fair Trade Organization The World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO), is a global association of 401 organizations who are committed to improving the livelihoods of economically marginalised producers. WFTO has members in 76 countries. Members are primarily fair trade enterpr ...

. The

Fairtrade A fair trade certification is a product certification within the market-based movement fair trade. The most widely used fair trade certification is FLO International's, the International Fairtrade Certification Mark, used in Europe, Africa, As ...

label, which is used on fair trade products, has its roots in the 1980s worldshop movement.

Aims

Worldshops' aim is to make

trade Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market. An early form of trade, barter, saw the direct excha ...

as direct and fair with the trading partners as possible. Usually, this means a producer in a developing country and consumers in

industrialized Industrialisation ( alternatively spelled industrialization) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society. This involves an extensive re-organisation of an econo ...

countries. The worldshops' target is to pay the producers a fair price that guarantees subsistence and positive social development. They often cut out any intermediaries in the import chain.

External links

British Association for Fair Trade Shops (BAFTS) - A network of independent Fair Trade or World Shops across the UKIsrael Trade Shops - A network of independent Trade or World Shops across Israel
{{Fair trade Fair trade Retailers by type of merchandise sold