Handmade Expressions

As a global fair trade store, The Welcome Mat sells products from all over the world, sourced by multiple organizations. One of our largest wholesalers, especially for our selections from India, is Handmade Expressions. Founded in 2005 by Manish Gupta, this company partners with multiple NGO's and grassroots artisan co-operatives that source fair trade products from India. Many of the artisans that Handmade Expressions employs have been marginalized in some way, making them innovators in the empowerment of these people, enabling them to compete in the global market through socially and environmentally responsible products.

The Welcome Mat values the legwork that Handmade Expressions undertakes to make it possible for fair trade stores everywhere to obtain these unique items efficiently and reliably. Handmade Expressions believes that "economic sustainability and social empowerment are the keys for community development." With this in mind, it is their mission to bridge the gap between the talented artisans and the modern global market by providing them with the resources to compete with education, fair wages and health care. They also encourage artisans to be environmentally responsible by using as many recycled materials as possible.

As one of a kind and unique as the products made by Handmade Expressions are, the artisans themselves are much more valuable and important. Handmade Expressions gives these hardworking artisans opportunities to better their lives. It is exciting to see the good that Fair Trade is doing all around the globe and it is a movement that The Welcome Mat is certainly proud to support.

Fairtrade Fortnight: Two Weeks for Ethical Standards

Last October The Welcome Mat celebrated Fair Trade Month by explaining the beginnings of fair trade, however our fair trade friendly neighbors overseas celebrate Fair Trade Fortnight, and this year it begins February 27th to March 11th!

Luckily for us, this years theme doesn't exclude the new world from participating in the fair trade festivities. This year the Fair Trade Foundation is encouraging everyone to "Take a Step for Fair Trade." It can be any step, big or small, that integrates fair trade into our lives more than it has been before. Maybe you could buy fair trade coffee for your office next time its your turn to buy, or you could make a change permanently to fair trade sugar for your household.

Fair Traders from across the globe are cataloguing their steps on the official Fair Trade Fortnight site. The foundation's goal is to reach 1,500,000 steps by the end of 2012. As of right now the recorded steps number nearly 7000, but more can still be done, and the fortnight has yet to even start! Each step we take whether it is as simple as requesting fair trade options at your local super market, or as big as organizing a fair trade chocolate tasting at your school, supports the fair trade cause! So what can you do? The Welcome Mat is here as always to help you out, because every step is just another piece of the journey towards an ethical market.

Fair Trade is Red...Fair Trade is Blue...

...Because a fair trade Valentine's Day is for you! It's February, and that means the season of romantic love. Everywhere you go there will be advertisements exclaiming how you can use their company's product in a romantic way. Some might say "Take the rust out of your relationship with a new water softener," or "Let her know how much you love her with a new copper sink..."

Seriously? For Valentine's Day? Thank goodness fair trade doesn't have to fake relevance to the holiday. There are some things that are more traditional than home repair items you can get and they're ethical to boot! The first and foremost being...chocolate!

We've told you before about how completely awesome Divine chocolate is, but now we're here to report that this heavenly chocolate's heart beats for romance. The Welcome Mat has several flavors of their bar chocolate, and online their heart shaped

candies are available as well. Mix that with some fair trade champagne and your evening is good to go!

Roses are always a good decision, in fact, flowers are always a good decision. Believe it or not just like fair trade coffee and fair trade fruit there are fair trade flowers! One World Flowers ships fair trade flowers all across the country, making them available to just about anyone. Receiving a bouquet of ethical blossoms will remove doubt about whether he loves you, or he loves you not!

Chocolates are delicious, but once you eat them they're gone. Flowers are wonderful as well, but they fade with time. However, jewelry lasts. If there is one thing that fair trade can provide to you, it is jewelry (and The Welcome Mat has plenty in stock)! There are so many fun designs and pieces that it's hard to imagine not being able to find something to match any one's style. Diamonds are not always a girls best friend. Sometimes it's paper beads, sometimes copper, sometimes soapstone. But for those ladies who are especially close to diamonds, places such as Brilliant Earth and Pristine Planet will be the places to look.

Valentine's Day is a time set aside for you and your significant other to celebrate love, but when the gifts you give are fair trade, you don't just celebrate romantic love, but the love and compassion of the planet and communities all over the globe! And with love like that, Cupid's aim was never better.

Fair Trade Super Bowl

The Superbowl is one of the biggest social events in America.  It is a day of food, football, and now fair trade!  Now, I know what you're thinking.  "But how can I make watching a football game fair trade?"  Well, as we all know the phenomenon that is the Superbowl party is much more than what’s on the television screen, and with these tips you can make a difference while you cheer.
As soon as your guests walk through the door you can have a number of fair trade beverages and snacks waiting for them. Windmill Organics makes quinoa salty snacks, and Liberation can provide a wide variety of party nuts. And to wash it down, Maine Root has a selection of fair trade sodas, as does Ubuntu Cola.  By pre-game your guests will be munching and mingling more ethically then they ever have.

Although the season doesn't call for it, a good fair trade barbecue would not be out of place at your Superbowl event, especially when the hunger pangs hit by kickoff.  Thanks to the Peppermaster, there are a number of fair trade sauces available for not just your chicken wings but all kinds of meats and desserts too!  Add that to some fair trade chocolate cake, or chocolate chip cookies, and you've got yourself a tasty and ethical game day.

And of course, it would be a shame not to mention the availability of fair trade footballs!  Maybe your friends want to get their own game going, or maybe your kids need a new pigskin to throw around.  In any case, it’s good to know that there are many fair trade sports balls available for the ethical athlete in us all.

http://www.fairtradeusa.org/get-involved/blog/make-years-super-bowl-fair-trade-certified

http://www.peppermaster.com/fair_trade_certified?zenid=1f633b509c882c32e5300593082d837