Peruvian Fair Trade Practices

Trade as a Force for Positive Change

For over twenty four years, Peruvian Fair Trade has been privileged to work closely with some of the finest traditional cottage industries of Peru. During that time, we have developed and nurtured unique relationships with these artisans, based on a long history of mutual respect and fair dealings. Although there is no formally recognized “fair trade” standard for the apparel and gift industry overall, we take our commitment to fair trade with Peruvian artisans and production partners with whom we work very closely. Furthermore, we strive to work with those vendors that ensure only the best working conditions for their employees.

Peruvian Fair Trade owns a production facility in Peru and fair trade and environmental stewardship are at the core of our philosophy. We also make sure we regularly visit the cottage industries and factories where our production is made. We have worked with many of those small cottage industries 20 years or more, and we do not associate with vendors who use child labor or permit poor working conditions. We know the owners of these businesses personally, and as a company, we strive to do business with them in a fair and respectful manner. In addition, our staff conducts routine factory visits and spends long hours doing extensive quality control inspections. In our own workshop we ensure that the artisans who make our production work in satisfactory conditions, make an above average pay and are treated with dignity and respect.

The talented artisans with whom we work are in the most skilled tier of artisan production. As such, they are among some of the highest paid people in their profession and are generally very much in demand. Although we are not privy to the specific rates our cottage industry owners pay their artisans, typically, our vendors go to great lengths to keep their skilled artisan workforce. These efforts include providing them with above average pay, transportation, hot meals, bonuses, time off and even day care in some cases.

We work closely with our vendors to set fair prices for their products and only very minimally negotiate prices to ensure that the artisans receive a fair wage for their talents. As a result of the long-term relationships that we have nurtured with these Peruvian artisans over the past 20 years, we are able to offer our customers an exquisite array of extraordinary products and beautiful manufactured goods at fair prices.