Fair Trade

fair trade is host’s specialist subject. We’ve grown up with it, created a lot of the language that has filtered through the world of fair trade as well as the strategies for justifying premiums while avoiding the charity trap. What has underpinned our passion for fair trade has not been fair trade itself but Cafédirect and the direct and personal relationships that come through its partner organisations and. cooperatives. It’s not just about fair prices, it’s about an ever-closer connection between consumers and growers - a reconciliation after years of economic abuse. When you work for an organisation that has the power pull together 300 writers, artists and performers on the strength of an ethic, when you can ask a coffee farmer to step out of her mountain community and into the media spotlight as Madonna of Africa, when you work with people who invest their lives into tiny organic orchards and gourmet products in the belief that quality will find a market, you can also start to appreciate that conventional business doesn’t really stand a chance. Cafédirect pioneered fair trade in the UK, it was here before the label, and host has been behind it all the way.