<< Back 7/10/02 Selling your soul is not required Some businesses make sure producers get their fair share By Cristina Reitz The jewelry looking out from display cases is likely to be the first thing one sees when entering Seven Silver Seas. Walking further into the shop, baskets can be seen, along with paintings, hand-woven purses, picture frames and pottery. In the back are clothes, furniture, and more artistic creations. What isn’t readily visible from the displays, however, is that the store is a working mission. Brandi Mehaffey, owner and creator, had wanted to run her own store since childhood, but had not taken the idea seriously until discontentment with a previous job led her to quit. “I was so afraid of risks,” she says. “But after I took the first risk of quitting my job, the rest just followed. In three months I was married and had my own business.” From its inception, Seven Silver Seas was destined to be a different type of store. The items themselves are unique, but the real difference stems from where the money goes. “I love what I do so much because I’m not just selling jewelry or a bunch of clothing,” says Mehaffey. “I know for a fact that the money from our store is really helping someone from around the world.” Mehaffey buys her products from a variety of Fair Trade and nonprofit organizations. The difference between Fair Trade, or Alternative Trade, organizations and traditional commercial trade is that Fair Trade is concerned with optimizing conditions for workers as opposed to solely focusing on generating profits, pleasing stockholders and attracting consumers. The greatest concern of Fair Trade Organizations is to improve the artisans’ standards of living. Fair Trade Organizations (FTOs) are committed to paying producers enough to cover the cost of production, the local cost of living and leave a margin for investment. They also pay 40 to 50 percent in advance so producers avoid debt and establish long-term working relationships. “I thought, why not have a business that goes along with my personal beliefs, but sell cool stuff at the same time?” Mehaffey says of her dream to open a store. She had heard about Fair Trade through venues like National Public Radio and had become acquainted with SERRV International, one of the oldest and largest alternative trade organizations, through her church. Even before she had her own store, she tried to buy products through organizations like SERRV. Selling them was just the next step. Mehaffey’s products come from a variety of Alternative Trade, nonprofit and other benevolent companies. Besides SERRV, she buys from Ten Thousand Villages (another large FTO), Market Place for Women, a Free Tibet organization, Equal Exchange Coffee, Marketplace Clothing (which doesn’t use sweatshop labor) and others. Not all the revenue goes out of the country, though. The soaps and candles in her shop come from American companies that hire handicapped people, and she also buys from American companies with good environmental track records. “It’s important to me [to run my business this way] because I feel like it’s the right thing and it makes you feel good about the business that you run,” says Mehaffey. “I think a lot of people are unaware of how wealth is obtained by corporations. The wealth has been obtained because many [companies] have gone overseas and taken advantage of the poverty that the people live in. Of course people are going to want to work anywhere they can regardless if they’re paid a penny or 50 cents. If their option is no work or work for what we’re going to pay you, the people are going to work. What’s unfortunate is that American companies are taking advantage of the desperation of Third World countries. That’s what our shop is trying to work against.” When it comes to sweatshop labor, most people just don’t think about it. They may be aware that companies like Nike have been rumored to use it, but most people are not aware that many products made in foreign countries and sold under American labels probably were produced by people getting paid far less than the local cost of living. The government has done a great deal to help these companies. Thirty-one countries can manufacture and import duty-free as long as their components are from America. Though this may help American businesses, it’s not helping Americans. When businesses go overseas, it costs American jobs. Retailers everywhere use sweatshop labor, but it’s not your friendly Wal-Mart employee that’s in China buying and selling cheap goods. It’s producers who sell to middlemen who then sell to more middlemen who finally bring the products we know and love into our local clothing store at very reasonable prices. But what we’re paying for is not the wages of the laborers — they only get about 3 percent of the retail price. Another advantage of not using middlemen is that the cost is greatly reduced. Although a study by Marymount University showed that 85 percent of consumers would pay more for a product if they knew it wasn’t produced in a sweatshop, most of the time you don’t have to. Since Fair Trade organizations go straight from producer to consumer, most products cost the same or less than their commercial counterparts. As Mehaffey points out, “We aren’t competing with Wal-Mart or Kmart. We’re selling handicrafts and artwork.” And because she buys through nonprofit organizations, “the actual person who made the item will receive 100 percent of the money that [she] paid for it, and there’s not a wealthy middleman taking all the profit .... The definition of fair trade is if you make a product, you receive payment equal to that product’s value. It’s not that you make a very valuable, wonderful product and only receive a quarter for it. You receive the value that it’s worth, whether it's $20, $30, or $100.” There are many stores across America that strive to do more than just create profit. Many, like Seven Silver Seas, choose to focus on providing a dignified income to people across the world. Others focus more on the environmental issues surrounding commercialism. Earth Fare, in Asheville, is a good example of environmental responsibility. Earth Fare, originally named Dinner for the Earth, was founded in 1975 by Roger Derrough and was the first natural food store in Asheville. In 1993, the name was changed, and in 1994 the store moved to its current location. Today, Earth Fare has stores in Asheville, Charleston, Columbia, and Greenville, S.C., and Athens, Ga. Earth Fare supports locally grown produce whenever possible, and all of its vendors have stringent requirements to ensure environmentally and ethically sound products. All vendors must have certification of organic products and ingredients by an official Department of Agriculture, Organic Industry recognized, non-profit certifying organization as well as certification from local state and federal regulatory agencies of compliance with all laws. Vendors must have third-party lab testing for pesticide and toxin residues, complete disclosure of all ingredients, and evidence of honest labeling and marketing practices, good manufacturing practices, quality assurance practices, ethical business practices, humane treatment of animals and fair labor practices. Because of these requirements, Earth Fare is able to offer quality products without any of the chemicals that many consumers say they don’t want. All produce is grown without pesticides or herbicides, bread products are made with unbleached flour, natural sugars and organic dairy products — vegan bread products are also available — and their cosmetics are all chemical free. All the meat is bought from free-range, humane farms where the animals are raised on organically grown grains and fresh spring water. The animals are not given growth hormones or antibiotics. Even the seafood is raised and caught in chemical free waters. But if consumers don’t change buying habits, it doesn’t matter how many benevolent stores there are. “As consumers, our power is in our dollar. People need to understand that when they buy a product, they’re unconsciously endorsing a way of doing business,” says Nina Smith, executive director of RUGMARK. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that in 2000, the average consumer unit (i.e. either a family living together or an individual) spent a mean of $1,856 on apparel alone. Consumer units in the upper tax brackets spent, on average, $2,359. If even a little of this money was redirected toward benevolent organizations it could make a difference. No, this would not cause the collapse of environmentally irresponsible businesses or make foreign production any less lucrative for American companies, but what it could do is make sure that organic farmers stay in business, that a child in India will get an education, or that a handicapped person in the United States has somewhere to work. As Mehaffey said, just one little person in one tiny town in North Carolina can make a difference in the lives of people everywhere. For more earth friendly stores, visit info@fairtradefederation.org or www.greenpages.com.