The fair trade movement as it is well known is said to have its roots as the effects of the Second World War. The energies to sell produce from producers who were said to be “marginalized” were sparked by some of the religious organizations and in some places by politically oriented non-governmental organizations.

In 1946, the Mennonite Central Committee was started and in 1946, the SERRV was formed to promote the supply of fair trade chains in the third world. The products they had were almost all handicrafts that varied from jute goods to cross switch work and were put in the market place to a large extent by volunteers in charity shops. The goods served one purpose and one purpose only that a donation has been given.

The World Shop
In the 1960s and 1970s there were revolutions that took place that transformed the industry into its current structure. Ohio was the first to open a World Shop and in no time, a European Outlet was opened and unveiled in Breukelen, in Netherlands. The industry took a slow progress but in 1989, the first Fair trade label was launched and was called, Max Havelaar.

According to E.P Thompson the fair trade idea is very old movement and the current one is a product of its growth. He wrote of the 18th century England to be a society that had the concept of common goods that was supported by paternalistic traditional authorities, and imposed some limits on the freedom of the market place.

Farmers did not have the power to dictate the prices of their products by holding on to them in the hope that the prices were going to be on the up. This concept of fair-trading was perceived to be the only means to address the market failing but the idea revolved only around the consumer rights and not those of the producer.

Global growth
Today, the concept of ethical shopping has grown to be more than what it was before, giving and receiving of donations. The market now has a diverse range of products and services, which are more than just practical and have become even very competitive in the market with other commercial goods. The industry has grown to be responsible for billions of dollars in the world’s sales every other year.

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