Picton Trade Aid Shop
At Trade Aid we’re all about change. We’ve been combining development and trade for over 40 years, illustrating that it is possible to use business to build a better world. We do things a little differently than your average business. We champion an alternative way of trade – a fair way. Social enterprises help bring change to the world. Trade Aid’s long history has proven that fair trade relationships can provide producer communities the support they need to solve problems and fulfil their aspirations. Today we source our handmade, organic and fair trade products from 56 trading partner organisations across Africa, Asia, Latin America, Palestine, and the Pacific. These long term trading relationships represent hundreds of thousands of small-scale farmers and artisans involved in fair trade. Since 1973, Trade Aid’s success has been in sharing our vision for a fair world. Trade Aid staff and volunteers run our shops located from Whangarei through to Dunedin. For many decades Trade Aid shops, trusts, and the importing company were staffed mainly by volunteers passionate about contributing to a social enterprise, who were doing things differently and putting people over and above all else. As well as demonstrating how fair trade benefits skilled producers around the world through our trade, integral to Trade Aid’s work is educating Kiwis to understand what fair trade is. Trade Aid educators are volunteers who live in every Trade Aid community. They are passionate about equity and being a conscious consumer and want to share Trade Aid’s nearly 50 years of knowledge of how fair trade benefits communities. We also encourage teachers to use our up-to-date and engaging resources to teach trade justice in their classrooms.