October is Fair Trade month! In case you missed it, our socks are Fair Trade certified by Fairtrade America, which defines Fair trade as “an alternative approach to trade based on partnership instead of exploitation; a partnership between those growing our food, those selling it and those enjoying it.” But how exactly does that relate to how we make socks?

Farming is the single largest employer in the world, but the millions of people who grow our food or the cotton for our clothes are not earning enough to feed themselves and their families. Fairtrade America is trying to change that. 

When a product is certified as Fair Trade, that means it promotes fairer trading conditions for farmers and that the farmers were fairly compensated for their work. It also means that the producers are working to combat issues like poverty, child labor, gender inequality, and climate change. The making of our products should not come at the expense of someone else.  

Fairtrade America’s unique pricing model also includes a premium that producer organizations receive on top of the price of the product. Once received, co-op members vote to determine how the money is spent, typically on community programs such as investing in their farms or increasing access to education or healthcare.

You simply cannot produce a product for $1 and make sure the people are being paid fairly. It’s why new, sustainable fashion sells for higher prices - so we can ensure everyone is treated fairly throughout the process (we talk more about how much this means to us at Conscious Step on our sustainability page).

In short, shopping Fair Trade is a way to show that you care about people. For us, it’s important that we protect the 43,000 cotton farmers around the world involved in producing goods like ours.

Now more than ever, it’s important to choose Fair Trade products! For more information and a chance to win pairs of our socks that save toucans, head over to Fairtrade America’s website and enter to win their Choose Fairtrade giveaway! Or, if you just can’t wait to get your hands on a pair, you can shop them right here alongside other pairs that protect endangered animals.