Handicrafts

• Published in: The Politics of Fair Trade pp. 107 - 115
• Main Author: Wilson, Patrick C.
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Routledge 2011
• Edition: 1
• Subjects: FTO; WFTO; Mennonite Central Committee; Fair Trade Movement; NGO Ally; Fair Trade Shops; Handicraft Production; Alternative Trade; FLO; ATOs; Fair Trade Stores; Transfair USA; Max Havelaar; UK Market; Oxfam UK; IFAT; Fair Trade Cocoa; FLO International; SOS; Fair Trade Projects; Fair Trade Supply Chain; World Shops; Fair Trade; Mennonite Church
• ISBN: 1857435125; 9781857435122; 9781857437607; 1857437608
• DOI: 10.4324/9780203831106-10

While the current fair trade movement is tied and reacting to the dominance of neoliberal globalization since the 1980s, its historical roots are diverse and include the co-operative movement of the late 19th century (Moore 2004), a concern with exploitative colonial relations of production (Redfern and Snedker 2002), and attempts to combat plummeting prices for primary commodities in the inter-war period (Fridell 2004). The historical developments that most closely resemble the fair trade movement, however, are tied to the formation of Alternative Trading Organizations (ATOs) engaging in 'charity trade' following the end of the Second World War to provide relief to war refugees and marginalized populations. One pioneering project grew out of the charity work of Edna Byler, a layperson for the Mennonite Church. In 1946 she visited a project by volunteers of the Mennonite Central Committee working in Puerto Rico, and began selling the embroidery produced by students in this project from her home through the distribution of mail order catalogues (Redfern and Snedker 2002). Calling her initiative 'SELFHELP: Crafts of the World', successful sales led her to expand to include cross-stitch needlework produced by Palestinian refugees and hand-carved wooden goods produced by Haitians (Witkowski 2005; Redfern and Snedker 2002). Her work eventually became institutionalized under the Mennonite Central Committee and led to the creation of the first alternative trade store in North America, also called SELFHELP, in 1972. SELFHELP was later renamed Ten Thousand Villages in 1996, which now is the largest chain of fair trade retail stores in North America. Also around the end of the Second World War, another ATO, Sales Exchange for Refugee Rehabilitation (SERVV), was formed out of the Church of the Brethren to sell German cuckoo clocks to aid in refugee relief (Low and Davenport 2005). Similarly, in the United Kingdom, Oxfam was formed in 1942 to aid war refugees in Greece.