Journal of Fair Trade

vLex
Publisher:
Pluto Journals
Publication date:
2023-03-02
ISBN:
2513-9533

Description:

The Journal of Fair Trade is a biannual, single-blind, peer-reviewed title published by Pluto Journals bringing together academics and practitioner voices. The Journal is owned and run by the Journal of Fair Trade Society (with support from the Pluto Educational Trust), a membership organisation which reflects the wider movement and all who are passionate about change. Join us and help build back fairer!

Issue Number

Latest documents

  • Cultures of social markets

    Social enterprises and markets have too often been conceived of as distinct, small, and usually marginal segments of the wider business community and economy. Yet the macro-cultural and policy contexts between countries and regions have historically delivered very different forms and levels of enterprises, social responsiveness, impact, and accountability, from the Scandinavian social contract to Chinese state enterprises, and from the Anglo-Saxon forms of corporate governance to the co-determination models from Germany to Taiwan. This article explores some of these developments, building on a broader view of ‘social enterprise’ as concerning the translation of societal values into enterprise aims, activities, configurations and social markets, concerning how such practices are embedded into markets and economies. Drawing on the author’s research and reflections, the article points to the current opportunity and risks in establishing a broader agenda and practice of social enterprises linked to the decline in the historically dominant Anglo-Saxon approach to privileging financial capital.

  • Can fashion ever be fair?

    The recent global economic crisis has highlighted the vulnerability of millions of women in apparel supply chains worldwide. Despite decades of activism and a plethora of corporate social responsibility and ethical labelling initiatives, there has been little evidence of progress toward greater equity in the fashion sector. Why can’t we make fashion more fair? This article explains historically rooted causes of inequity for Black and Brown women in apparel supply chains and details the rise of Fair Trade initiatives intended to use market forces to improve existing practices and support alternatives. Attempts to use consumerism and market forces to drive social change raised deep questions for social movement actors regarding first principles. Notwithstanding years of effort, Fair Trade apparel has failed to achieve any significant market penetration. Yet the sector as a whole is experiencing overlapping shocks of digitisation, climate change and pandemic-exacerbated disruptions to supply chains. Social movement actors are also targeting the sector with new demands for social and economic justice. This may provide opportunities to redesign our thinking around Fair Trade and what constitutes fairness in fashion.

  • Journal of Fair Trade
  • Recentring Fair Trade in the movement for a just, inclusive and regenerative economy

    From the 1970s to the 1990s, Fair Trade was at the front edge of an emerging new paradigm about the purpose of business and the meaning of economic success. The movement for a just, inclusive, and regenerative economy has continued to expand, but today’s young entrepreneurs and activists are more likely to enter through other communities like Buy Local campaigns, racial justice, worker ownership, platform co-operatives, B Corps, social enterprise, regenerative agriculture, zero waste or climate action. Social movements often happen in waves across multiple generations. As Fair Trade commodity certification has become increasingly mainstream, it can be seen as a first wave of the movement. It is a success that deserves to be celebrated, but on its own, it is difficult to sustain. The Fair Trade enterprise community has the potential to engage the next generation of mission-driven entrepreneurs and activists, speed up the next wave of the movement and lock in the success of the first.

  • Contents
  • An investigation of Fair Trade product knowledge, beliefs, experiences and buying intentions of Generation Z in the US

    The Fair Trade movement is an alternative way to conduct international and domestic business by trying to improve trading conditions of disadvantaged producers around the world through consumer actions. Consumers can support the movement by purchasing FT certified products, which confirm that products meet ethical principles and environmental standards that are set in accordance with the requirements. However, FT product sales in the US have been lagging in comparison to the FT product sales in Europe. For instance, per capita consumption of the value of FT products was approximately €3 in the US in comparison to €34 in the UK (Fairtrade International, 2016). This study investigates several variables that can influence Fair Trade consumption, and, specifically, the effects of consumers’ knowledge, beliefs and past experiences on their purchase intentions of Fair Trade products among urban youth consumers in the US. Using the Theory of Reasoned Action as the conceptual framework, data were collected from 154 subjects using an online survey. The results indicate that consumer knowledge about FT has significant positive influence on their purchase intentions, but this relationship is mediated and strengthened by their beliefs and past behaviour. We offer various implications of these findings to FT businesses and organisations.

  • Recentring Fair Trade in the movement for a just, inclusive and regenerative economy

    From the 1970s to the 1990s, Fair Trade was at the front edge of an emerging new paradigm about the purpose of business and the meaning of economic success. The movement for a just, inclusive, and regenerative economy has continued to expand, but today’s young entrepreneurs and activists are more likely to enter through other communities like Buy Local campaigns, racial justice, worker ownership, platform co-operatives, B Corps, social enterprise, regenerative agriculture, zero waste or climate action. Social movements often happen in waves across multiple generations. As Fair Trade commodity certification has become increasingly mainstream, it can be seen as a first wave of the movement. It is a success that deserves to be celebrated, but on its own, it is difficult to sustain. The Fair Trade enterprise community has the potential to engage the next generation of mission-driven entrepreneurs and activists, speed up the next wave of the movement and lock in the success of the first.

  • Systems, solidarity and fair trade

    The words fair trade are simple, but the ideas behind them are complex. Systems thinking allows an accessible, pluralistic response in which diversity is a bonus rather than a problem, while the model developed here offers a coherent framework for some familiar ideas, and some perhaps less so. A key distinction is made between procedural and reconstructive fair traders. Procedural fair traders focus on making market procedures more equitable. Reconstructive fair traders seek directly to repair social and environmental inequities arising from market and other systemic failures. These roles are seen as complementary rather than mutually exclusive. Procedural reform of the market rewrites the role of intermediaries in the supply chain from profit maximisation towards facilitation. At the same time, both types of fair trader are concerned by the market’s tendency to externalise social and environmental costs. Both types of fair traders also recognise the importance of consumer awareness: corporate behaviour is influenced both by the aggregate of purchasing decisions and by reputational concerns. All of these factors can be understood in the context of an holistic systems view of fair trade in three dimensions: the qualitative narrative, the quantifiable evidence, and the realities of ethical pluralism. This first model is fairly abstract, although underpinned by genuine experience. There is a further step, in which the contribution of this generalised model to the strategies of fair-trade enterprises will be explored.

  • An empirical study identifying Fair Trade consumer attributes of compassion and sustainability awareness

    While growing awareness, concern and expectation among stakeholders for companies to implement Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policies exists, the fashion industry's global supply chains and product lifecycles are unsustainable. Fair Trade apparel bridges that gap. The Fair Trade and CSR literature supports the idea that fair trade consumers should possess the attributes of (a) compassion for oneself, others and the environment (COOE) and (b) desire for sustainability awareness (DSA). In this study, we contribute to the literature by developing two new scales to measure these unique qualities. Online surveys were distributed to 1,197 individuals and 258 respondents make up the sample. An Exploratory Factor Analysis, using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) with Varimax Rotation was administered on all items, which made up both scales to determine discriminant validity. Scholars and practitioners can use both new scales to holistically analyse and identify the attributes that motivate consumers to purchase Fair Trade apparel.

  • Challenges of COVID-19 for Fair Trade enterprises in attaining Sustainable Development Goals 2030

    This paper aims to explore challenges of COVID-19 in achieving sustainable development goal (SDG) 1 ‘no poverty’ by Fair Trade (FT) enterprises. The authors used focus group discussion (FGD) with seven members of World Fair Trade Organisation (WFTO) – Asia, from six different countries: Thailand, Bangladesh, Nepal, India, the Philippines, and Indonesia. Findings suggest that COVID-19 has posed bigger challenges to FT enterprises in achieving the SDGs since the pandemic has created challenges not only to the economic aspect but also to the health, education, safety and security of the communities. Due to COVID-19, the progress in attaining SDGs has slowed down, as global unemployment surged, global markets collapsed with a catastrophic economic downturn, which could eventually push more people to the pit of poverty. Stronger collaboration among the stakeholders is needed to achieve the SDGs.

Featured documents