1. Use Global Love for your shopping.
Search for items by category or use our search engine. Stay connected as we update and post new catalogs, products, businesses, and other shopping resources. Also follow us on Facebook and feel free to check out the businesses we "like."
2. PINTEREST. Seriously, this is a great way to browse and seek out products. Follow Global Love Shopping on Pinterest to view products, neatly categorized, as they are launched, and get in on sales, giveaways, and other special treats. If you love a brand, follow their board!
3. Bookmark FairPages.com and use as a product search engine.
4. Start a wishlist to let people know the fair trade items you would like for a holiday or special occasion.
Several Fair Trade online catalogs have online gift registries, including www.serrv.org and sevenhopesunited.com, which can also be use for wedding and baby shower registries.
For items not on these sites, sign up for Amazon.com's wishlist. Amazon allows for products on any site to be added to the wishlist. (That is how I got my Tevas All Terrain Runners one Christmas) Download their wish list widget and anytime you come across something you list on GLS or other site, simply click on the icon to add to your list, and keep browsing!
5. Join the club!
Subscribe to Trade As One's Change For Good and receive a package of fair trade food items every three months and add the Coffee Club, if you want some java with that! This is a great way to try out products. Subscribe to the Imani Club and receive a unique handcrafted necklace each month, while supporting the women who make the jewelry in Gulu, Uganda. Purchase a subscription as a gift.
6. Not everything has to be fair trade certified to be justly made.
Buy homemade items from local artists/artisans or from sites like Etsy.com and support people seeking to make a income with their talents.
Buy from thrift stores, which is basically a recycling of good items, and often supports local non-profit organizations or small business owners.
Support businesses you know that operate with fair labor practices.
7. Be in the know and get great deals.
Follow fair labor businesses on social media, like Facebook, to stay in the know of new products and specials. Many of them offer discounts, especially around the holidays.
Sign up for email by Roozt, which features up to 50% deals on responsibly made products.
Get coupons on responsibly made products on Ecobunga.
8. Use social media to encourage others to buy fair labor products.
Share Global Love's Shop Justly Campaign on your social media (Facebook, blogs, Tumblr, twitter, etc.), and print out the poster to give out or hang up. Share posts from fair trade businesses you love.
9. Host a fair trade sale.
Do a jewelry party with businesses like Imani and 31 Bits.
Host a Trade As One boutique at your church or other venue, with products like food, apparel, decor, tools, and more.
10. Make money for yourself or your organization while supporting workers in fair labor businesses.
Trades Of Hope gives women an opportunity to sell jewelry and home decor that also empowers the women who made the products.
Do you next school or organization fundraiser through Equal Exchange.
11. Change Business.
Check to see how your favorite companies and products fare on labor practices through the Free2Work.org website or Android/ iPhone app or the Better World Shopper. Both give a grade according to evidence of labor policies and practices. Get profiles on companies at Green America's Responsible Shopper site. If they score low on social responsibility, let them know you would like them to have fair labor practices at chainstorereaction.com or through their contact info. Companies are responding and changing their practices, mostly due to the demands of their customers. Support and encourage mainstream businesses that earn high scores for improving their practices.
12. Stay Informed.
Visit Green America and sign up for emails to stay informed on fair labor activities, including actions by companies and more ways to creatively get involved. Stay connected with Fair Trade Federation.
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