Boutiko is offering 15% off all Fair Trade gifts throughout March. Click here > > >

Have you got a flare for features writing?

If so EcoChic would love to hear from you. Send them your ideas on ethical and fair trade fashion, ethical trade, environmental issues, social and political and eco news and, if they like it, they’ll publish it and you could win a best feature EcoChic Gift Voucher worth £25.00

Contact: features@ecochiccollection.co.uk

Visit the EcoChic online shop > > >

Show you care this Mothering Sunday with a beautifully wrapped gift from Ochre & Ocre.

We are offering FREE gift wrapping of your present, and FREE delivery! (Gift wrap service normally £4.50).

Send your Mum a beautifully wrapped parcel, in our signature Ochre & Ocre FSC gift wrap. To order, select your gift, tick the gift wrap option, and enter your message. Then type in the following Promo code: TREAT FOR MUM The cost of the gift wrap service will be deducted from your order.

Make sure you order by Thursday 19th March, to ensure your gift arrives on time. Orders will be despatched first class post on Friday 20th March, to arrive on Saturday 21st March. To find the perfect gift for your mum visit Ochre & Ocre >>>

The Green Girls Global blog launches a range of organic cotton Tee shirts

Green Girls Global (GGG), hosted and managed by Vicky at ethical web design company Make Hay, is an environmental blog featuring editors from all over the world.

GGG have just released a brand new line of stylish organic cotton t-shirts. The tees come in 7 different designs all about living a more sustainable life. They are available in various unisex styles, sizes and colours. Visit the Make Hay blog to find out more.

New EJ member Fair Trade Faerie proudly announces its recent Bafts Accreditation

Fair Trade Faerie are a young, up-and-coming business, passionate about bringing fairtrade products to a wider audience.

Founder, Sue Lindsay, said, “My dream was to source stylish, contemporary, high quality and affordable products and make fair trade and natural skin care available to a wider audience. All products on offer are selected by me for their quality & fairtrade provenance.”

High quality goods, affordability and personal customer service are
Fair Trade Faerie’s priority and, in order to maintain these standards,
Sue works closely with a select number of certified Fair Trade
importers and small, family based natural skincare manufacturers. As a
result thebusiness has grown rapidly with new products and ranges being
added regularly. Why not visit their online store > > >

As part of our United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) commitments to respect human rights and labour rights, Article 13 supports Fairtrade Fortnight.

Fairtrade advocates fairer conditions for workers, suppliers and producers in less developed areas, has a critical role in alleviating poverty and working towards a more sustainable and fairer world. Article 13 have made it a priority to regularly purchase Fairtrade products and raise awareness of the difference fairtrade can make.

Why Fairtrade?
It has been reported that a third of humanity still survive on less
than $2 a day (http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/). Unfair trade is said to
undercut producers in developing countries, which leads to farmers
being driven further into poverty. Unfair trade also plays a large role
in increased poverty within developing countries, with farmers and
producers having their human rights infringed and not receiving nearly
enough compensation for their long work hours.

Fairtrade refers to the promotion of sustainability and social
empowerment of producers, primarily within developing countries.
Fairtrade Fortnight is a social movement which aims… “to tip the
balance of trade in favour of poor producers.” Through choosing to purchase fairtrade
products individuals can have a beneficial impact on the fairer
treatment of the farmers and producers who operate mostly at the bottom
of the supply chain.  

Fairtrade Fortnight
Fairtrade Fortnight (2009) is an important campaign to encourage people
to purchase Fairtrade. The campaign is titled “Make it happen. Choose
Fairtrade”. This campaign aims to encourage individuals, retailers,
businesses, producers and campaigners to organise fairtrade events,
promote awareness and incorporate fairtrade in their purchasing
decisions. Through a collective response to this campaign from a huge
range of stakeholders, we have the power to potentially change the
livelihoods of farmers, sustainably benefit areas of the developing
world and on a larger scale help reduce world poverty. This Fairtrade
Fortnight (2009) will hopefully culminate in a sales world record for
the purchase of fairtrade products, despite the recession.

What we can do?
Below is a list of examples how we can make a difference:

• Make fairtrade a part of your purchasing decisions.
• Start a fairtrade event, e.g. run a fairtrade breakfast club or set up a fairtrade stall. 
• Businesses can promote greater awareness of their full range of
  fairtrade products and make their products more visible in store.
• Increase media coverage of fairtrade and wider trade justice issues, e.g. magazine and newspaper articles.

For more ideas and information visit http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/.

Contact information
Please contact Fiona Banyard on fionab@article13.com or call 020 8840 4450
Please also see Article 13’s website www.article13.com

To celebrate Fairtrade Fortnight, Bags of Change is offering £5 off every fairly traded rubber bag sold via its website: www.bagsofchange.co.uk

In addition, £1 from every rubber bag sale will be donated to Survival, the tribal people’s charity.

Don’t forget to sign up for the free Bags of Change e-newsletter for exclusive offers and tips on ethical shopping in the UK.

Bags of Change are the only eco-bags that actually save you money on your shopping. Shop with one of the distinctive bags and get up to 10% off Fairtrade, organic and local products at more than 60 affiliated retailers in the UK.

Visit the website Bagsofchange.co.uk to see the full range of bags and affiliated ethical stores – a great place to source your Fairtrade products during Fairtrade Fortnight and all year round.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that the only time mothers’ get to themselves are the ten minutes spent in the shower on any given morning (apologies to Jane Austen).

Why not give her something to make that time even more enjoyable? Purely Skincare is a delicious range of 100% natural toiletry products with absolutely no synthetics whatsoever, just gorgeously mild and gentle for any skin type.

The Purely Skincare product range includes a shampoo, conditioner,
bath & shower wash, face wash and moisturiser. 

Available in a
choice of bright, citrussy Organic Grapefruit & Lemongrass, an
energizing, uplifting fragrance blend and especially suitable for
congested skin in need of balance and toning; or a subtle floral blend
of Organic Lavender & Palmarosa, especially suitable for women’s
skin as it combines the healing, relaxing properties of lavender with
palmarosa oil – a wonder ingredient that encourages natural moisturized
skin and actually stimulates cellular renewal, so excellent for more
mature skin types.

Not only are the products beautiful to use, but they also won’t bust
the budget at just £5.99 each – so if you want to be really generous,
you could buy a complete set for under £30.

The range has been approved by the Vegan Society, and rated ‘green’ by
Greenpeace.  And we never, ever have or would test on animals…we
promise.

Available in high street health stores, or check stockists online at www.purelyskincare.co.uk

Gedling Fairtrade Fashion Show 2009
Nottingham, 4 March

Ethical web design team Make Hay are supporting local community organisation Gedling Fairtrade Group and are involved in organising a Fairtrade Fashion Show to celebrate Fairtrade Fortnight.

The show takes place on Wednesday 4th March at 7.30pm in Nottingham. Come along and enjoy the live music and Fairtrade stalls with a chance to buy beautiful Fairtrade clothes and accessories after the show. Visit the Make Hay blog to find out more.

In support of fair trade fortnight Purity www.purityStyle.com are giving away this Heart Bead Necklace from Nomads with every order over £45 received between 23rd Feb and 8th March.

Made by the Tara project who work in and around Dehli to get kids out of work and back into school etc through the funds from producing this jewellery from recycled materials. This beautiful necklace is made from glass stone and cotton and is worth £8. See it at Purity