Fair Trade

MySmallShop was established in November 2007 and was founded by the charity MySmallHelp (www.mysmallhelp.org) working in Nepal for children’s rights and education. MySmallShop takes jewellery, pashminas (cashmeres) and paper products made out of pure Nepali paper from Nepal and sends it to our representatives in the U.K for sale. From every sale made in the U.K , the producers get a fair price and profit for the products.

MySmallShop products do not have the official fairtrade label mentioned above but they are trading fairly with the producers which they purchase products from. All of the MySmallShop products have been bought directly from the producers and MySmallShop has visited their workshops to understand how many hours a week they work and how much they get paid for their work.

MySmallShop producers work 6 days a week for 8 hours a day and are paid an average of £30 and hour which enables producers to have a basic monthly above the average in Nepal. The labour costs are included in the product costs of all MSS products to enable producers to have a higher standard of living and better quality of late. Prior to MySmallShop getting involved with the Nepal Handmade Silver jewellery workshop the workers were earning an average of £3 an hour and working 7 days a week for 14 hours a day. MySmallShop is pleased to be making a difference to their producers lives and creating a sustainable method of help and international markets.

Fair Trade is about better prices, decent working conditions, local sustainability, and fair terms of trade for farmers and workers in the developing world. By requiring companies to pay above-market prices, Fair Trade addresses the injustices of conventional trade, which traditionally discriminates against the poorest, weakest producers. It enables them to improve their lot and have more control over their lives. Fair Trade is an alternative approach to conventional international trade. It is a partnership between producers and traders, which aims for sustainable development for excluded and disadvantaged people in developing countries.

On a personal level, Fair Trade enables people to put food on their tables, to live and work with dignity and develop their communities. On a global level, Fair Trade has the potential to alleviate poverty by changing the unfair structures of world trade while campaigning for sustainability.

Who benefits from Fair Trade?
We all do. Most importantly, Fair Trade enables producers in the poorest communities of the world to work their way out of poverty and look forward to a more positive future for themselves, their families and their communities.

For consumers in the UK, they know that buying Fair Trade products means that they are an active part of the solution of world poverty and are helping to send a strong message to multinational companies to re-think their trading policies in the developing world. Fair Trade is not just about paying a fair price and meeting the legal standards on working conditions - it's a different way of doing business - it's a partnership that we can all benefit from..