Fair Trade: News & Updates

Join Equal Exchange’s tea team for a journey into the world of tea! Learn more about why our alternative trade model is so important for tea farmers in an industry still dominated by plantations. Then, experience a selection of teas through a guided tasting as we learn about the crop and the farmers behind each blend. 

Consumer support and advocacy has been absolutely crucial to Equal Exchange since our founding in 1986. Over the decades, consumers have organized with Equal Exchange to gain placement in grocery stores across the US, organized distribution of Equal Exchange products in their communities, and spread the word about our alternative trade model to friends, family, and neighbors to help build our alternative trade economy. Our multistakeholder model would not be possible without the active participation of Citizen-Consumers like you. Join us for our next new member orientation to meet the organizing team, learn more about Equal Exchange, and get involved in the Citizen-Consumer community! Now is a great time to get involved for the first time or to get involved again if it’s been a little while. 

Join other Citizen-Consumers for monthly meetings to connect as a member of this community, engage in shared learning, and hear updates from Equal Exchange. If you are not already a member consider applying now to join our community!

When Equal Exchange started in 1986, we purposely set out to build both a new and more equitable model of international trade and a rare-in-the-U.S. democratic business. We broke many of the conventional rules of the market with the goal to trade fairly with farmers and build democratic supply chains. The concepts of fair trade and alternative trade were barely known at that time. Today, while we are a much larger organization with more than 100 worker-owners and a significant national and international scale, we are still living our original wild-eyed dream and breaking conventions with every purchase we make from our trade partners in coffee, bananas, cocoa, and tea.

Come to the annual Fair Trade Festival and plan to make a simple purchase to change lives! This year's Fair Trade Vendors include: Revy Fair Trade, Esperanza Threads, Canaan Fair Trade, Land of Peace, Santa Rosa Stitches, Shema Store, Global Gifts Short North, JCU Fair Trade/SERRV, Mira Fair Trade, Joyce's Boutique, InterReligious TaskForce on Central America.

Join Equal Exchange in their upcoming Events on April 7, April 12, May 3, and May 24! Click here for more information and registration links

Join Equal Exchange and for a conversation with Santiago Paz Lopez, Export Manager of Coop Norandino in Peru. Santiago will be in Boston to attend the annual (but first since 2019) gathering of the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA). He will join us via Zoom to share more about the current reality for coffee farmers who have endured the pandemic as well as ongoing challenges with the climate crisis. After this unique and timely presentation we will open the virtual session to questions from participants.