6 Unexpected Reasons People Buy Fair Trade Products

It’s a strange thing, the psychology of purchase decision making. Fair Trade retailers carry hundreds of pieces of beautiful work from artisans all over the world. Their mission is to bring these works of art to a wealthy market, and allow impoverished people to make a living where there is a terrible quality of life. For many consumers, the quality of the handmade product or the ethics behind their purchase is reason enough to buy these Fair Trade goods. What’s strange is that not everyone knows or cares about that stuff; young people often feel like they don’t have the money to decorate a home with baskets and wall hangings, and some people couldn’t be bothered to think about where the stuff they love comes from. We still want these people to buy Fair Trade. We want market share. We will do whatever it takes to make them want to spend their money on ethical products, even if it means appealing to some previously unexplored customer needs.

            I have been working as a retail sales analyst with Ten Thousand Villages for a while now, and in that time I’ve explored some of the products we sell, and theorized about why people are buying what they do. I’ll even admit, when I started here, I didn’t make much of an effort to buy products from ethical sources, and so I have first-hand experience in the field of buying Fair Trade for reasons you wouldn’t expect. When you start to see some of these products lined up and shown together, maybe you can start to see what I’ve been seeing.

1.     Unique Gaming Accessories

Not many people outside the gaming community know this, but there are a ton of popular games on the market right now that require players to bring their own set of dice. Roleplaying games like Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, Savage Worlds, Warhammer, and Magic: The Gathering are all examples of globally popular games in which players much purchase gaming accessories, which are sold separately, and bring them together to compete. The competitive nature of these games coupled with the customizability of self-sourced equipment means that many gamers are looking for new ways to stand out. Sure, you can go to a hobby shop and spend $5 on the red plastic dice that are typically associated with the game, but why would you do something so typical, so ordinary, when what you really want is for all of your opponents to remember you well after your victory? Enter Fair Trade Sheesham Wood Dice.

 

Ten Thousand Villages carries two sets of hand carved wooden dice among their Toy & Games selection of products. These dice are smooth, balanced, and completely unique. When gamers think about the dice they want to buy for using thousands of times on a wide variety of surfaces, they want something lightweight, easy to transport, and strong. These beautiful, unique set of dice are the perfect choice, and are currently marketed to children! I’m not sure who else is buying this product, as the dice don’t come with rules to any game; they’re just six-sided dice. I imagine a child getting these would roll them a couple times and promptly lose them, forgetting about them just as quickly. But gamers? Gamers will keep the dice inside the hand carved box, take them to friends’ houses and tournaments alike, being able to brag not only about their victory in the game, but that their dice purchase was made ethically. As their opponent looks to the little red plastic dice in their hand, the wooden dice will have made the win twice as sweet.

2.     Steampunk Culture and Décor

Another lesser known type of style and fandom is Steampunk, an alternate history sub-genre of Science Fiction. The settings of the Steampunk stories often feature steam-powered machinery and technology, and modernized versions of old inventions. It is not uncommon to find fantastical armoured battle trains, impenetrable flying blimp fortresses, or crazy goggle-wearing scientists. One of the features of Steampunk style is having things made out of glass, wood, or brass that normally aren’t. It will also have a sort of Steampunk feel if things look almost robotic. These style features of Steampunk are what compel me to show you this.

So apparently there are a lot of artisans who specialize in making unique products out of actual brass and wood. A compass? How many people need a tiny brass compass as an accent to an otherwise completed decorating scheme? Every single Steampunk fan, that’s who. I wondered who would want to buy an intricately designed metal champagne flute, until I realized that it’s the PERFECT accessory for someone in Steampunk attire to bring with them to a convention. This stuff has the benefit of being made from the actual materials true to the genre, as well as being a source of desperately needed income for people around the world. That necklace pictured above is actually made of recycled bomb shells. This little fact adds a world of value to an already excellent Steampunk jewelry piece. I’m going to be honest, one of those brass owls is going to be sitting on my bookshelf beside William Gibson, Philip K. Dick, and Issac Asimov, in the very near future.

3.     Novelty Gifts

Every year I host an “Ugly Christmas Sweater” Christmas party, in which guests wear the ugliest sweater they can find. Prizes are awarded to first, second, and third places after a vote is taken. Needless to say this is a lot of fun, and to keep with the theme, each year the prize has been an unusual Christmas ornament. Though I have previously given a pickle ornament (based on a German tradition of hiding a pickle in the tree), this year I decided to gift something from Ten Thousand Villages.

 

That bearded man on the left is an ornament that is meant to be part of a set, depicting the three wise men that came to visit baby Jesus. It is made from porcelain and is excellent quality, and together they look wonderful. What I did was just buy the one ornament so that as a gift, the winner of the sweater contest got a bearded man in a gown holding a baby. It’s not that the items that come from other countries are naturally weird, but it certainly is the case that used in the wrong context, they can be hilarious. Many pieces that are part of a set, or fit a theme for decorating, are just completely out of place on their own. Why not get someone a gift that will seem strange upon first glance (for the novelty factor) but then surprise them with the story of an ethical purchase.

 

See that angel ornament above? These are handmade out of recycled paper, and involve a lot of skill to make each individual one by hand. Earlier this year we found that some of the recycled paper may have come from some medical publication, and a few of the angels had words on them that were, ah, less than festive. These angels were scoured by customers for these unexpected errors, since the artisans themselves do not necessarily understand the language. They have no reason not to send it as is, and of course this feature only adds to the unique nature of the craft.

4.     All the Cool Kids Are Doing It

Fair Trade has become increasingly popular, and its necessity is becoming apparent to more and more people. I’m not just talking about us regular people either, I’m talking about the celebs; there’s a bunch of very important people that are throwing in their purchasing votes with ethical consumerism. It’s getting to a point where people that don’t know the first thing about Fair Trade are going to be loyally buying products associated with the stars they love, and making good choices in the process. Coffee drinkers got a pleasant surprise when they found out actor Hugh Jackman started his own line of Fair Trade coffee, Laughing Man. Increased popularity of Fair Trade beverages has also led to major chains to carry products that have been sourced ethically. Starbucks, Second Cup, and Timothy’s have all gotten on board, not to mention us, so why haven’t you? Sometimes peer pressure is exactly what people need to start caring.

 

It doesn’t just stop at coffee either. Fair Trade clothing has seen an increase in popularity since actress Emma Watson collaborated with People Tree, an ethical clothing line that focuses on sustainable, eco-friendly clothing production that workers get paid a living wage for. Many of the high end fashion brands pay millions of dollars to get a celebrity endorsement, just getting them to wear their clothes. This strategy works; customers love to buy products that their favourite celebrities believe in! Literally the only reason I wear Gentlemen Only cologne is because I assume it makes me smell just like Simon Baker. So even if you don’t know the artisan story behind what’s being made, or how the company is making a real effort to better the lives of their suppliers, at the very least you can be just like the coolest celebs in Hollywood!

5.     Thrifty Gifts Packed with Gifty Value

Most people that think about Fair Trade products think that they will automatically be overpriced, and that it will mean paying a premium to buy ethically. This isn’t true though, and retailers will have a wide variety of products that are inexpensive and still beautiful. The awesome thing is that it’s kind of easy to basically present anything you could possibly buy as being an amazing gift on multiple levels. You can literally spend a few dollars, and get away with making claims to its multi-dimensional significance. Here’s what I mean by Fair Trade gifts being packed with “gifty” value.

 

Look at each one of these products. Each of these gifts is under $10, which to be honest, they really should be. Just looking at them you see a bracelet, a bar of soap, and a metal snake; nothing to get excited about. This is the difference between a regular gift, and a Fair Trade gift, because once the recipient of your thoughtful, thrifty gift has revealed the treasure you have bestowed upon them, the sharing of extra value begins! Time for everyone to feel good about giving and receiving!

That bracelet is made of leather, but was painstakingly hand painted by an artisan in Indonesia trying to make a living in extremely difficult conditions. The bracelet was a literal source of income for someone who would otherwise struggle to survive. Wearing that bracelet stands for something; it means so much more than just a plain leather bracelet.

The soap in the middle sure sounds like a simple gift. Everyone already has soap, why would someone need more? That’s when you hit them with the fact that THIS soap was made by women who have escaped the sex trade. They have been trained to make a living by creating soap, and selling it to earn the money they need to survive without giving up a part of themselves. This soap comes with the added “gifty” bonus of hope, a story of overcoming the odds, and is even imprinted with the thumbprint of an actual sex trade survivor. This $7 soap will bring them to tears, whether they get it in their eyes or not.

The snake you see above is made of recycled bicycle chain, and is actually a bottle opener. Did you know that other metal bottle openers are often $15-$20? This, however, is a gift that keeps on giving, since you can share the story of the artisan in India using old parts to create something new and beautiful, and then the story can be shared again and again when the bottle opener is used! Practical, and unlike anything else, spending $8 gets you a useful tool, a beautiful story, a feeling of hope, and all sorts of other things that aren’t immediately apparent. That’s just a smart way to spend money.

The point of all this is that sure these extra stories are wonderful and people want to hear them, but let’s not forget the actual literal value it adds to a gift. For some reason when we give something to someone, we want a sense that they’re getting a whole lot out of it, and by making sure that your purchase is Fair Trade, you automatically get to add in all these great ethical bonuses, without spending more. So your $7 bar of soap carries just as much value as trying to pick out a CD or movie for someone and spending $20 in the hopes they’ll like it. Buying gifts from a Fair Trade place is cheap, easy, and very valuable, whether you pay attention to the good it’s doing or not!

6.     To Live Like a Rich Person

In what has to be one of the most counter-intuitive ways for someone to shop at a Fair Trade retailer, this is actually a reason that companies count on, even if it is unexpected. Realistically not everyone coming through the door is totally familiar with Fair Trade practices and may only have a vague idea that the products they are looking at are ethically sourced. Actually, maybe they do know about the background of the items, and are looking to make a difference in the world in the most luxurious way they can think of. Regardless of the reason, it seems some people come into our stores to spend hundreds of dollars on goblets and chess sets.

 

Ten Thousand Villages seems to be the exclusive Canadian supplier of hand carved, Fair Trade onyx goblets; stone drinking glasses that are lovingly kept in a velvet lined box. I’m pretty sure that the only glasses more expensive are Waterford Crystal, and really, anyone can buy crystal. These cups come in sets of two, which seem to indicate they aren’t even meant for special dinner parties. These goblets will make anyone feel like a king or queen the very few times they actually get used before being hidden away in their upscale velvet chest. We don’t specifically say it, so I can’t even tell you if these are dishwasher safe. All I know is that taking a step back, it can be strange to think that the skilled artisan whose livelihood relies on the sale of these goblets, if they had the $100 that these cost, would probably buy food, medicine, or more education for their children. I’m in no way saying you shouldn’t buy these cups; on the contrary, it only benefits everyone for them to be purchased. I’m just saying stone goblets are a certain kind of first world luxury.

And now I’ll draw your attention to the line of products only less expensive than large pieces of furniture and exotic Pakistani rugs; chess sets. For those customers who don’t just want to play chess, but want to spend at least three times the cost of the stone goblets on a game. I understand that realistically these games may not see a lot of actual play, and they make an amazing piece of décor, we’re still talking about a wooden chess set costing someone more than someone in a textile factory could make in a year. I know that comparisons like that can be made about anything, but it does seem kind of funny to think that it’s this kind of indulgent purchase that is basically working to end our reality in which some people can’t afford really nice chess sets. Ok, not so much funny as actually really good and ethical. Seriously, if you want to have really nice things that cost a lot of money, this is a great place to get them. In fact, it’s probably the best, most ethical place you can get them.