Trade As One

We’ve finally shipped out the last of the Christmas orders, and now we’re taking a break to spend the holidays with our families.  We will be back in action on January 4th.

We are happy to continue taking your orders online, but please note that orders will not begin shipping again until the 4th.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).  We will get back to you as soon as we can.

Merry Christmas (and Happy New Year) from Trade as One!

We’ve got our whole team in the warehouse working round the clock to get all of your orders out to you as soon as you place them! We’ve got great Christmas music (John Denver and the Muppets), great warehouse help, and great products heading out the door. If you’re interested in making it a Fair Trade Christmas, there’s still time! Take a look at the table below to see your shipping options. Thanks!

We have worked with UPS to develop the following timetables for guaranteed delivery by December 24th:

West Coast

Ground
  Order by Friday, Dec. 18 at 11:59pm
Expedited
  Order by Saturday, Dec. 19 at 11:59pm
Rush
  Order by Monday, Dec. 21 at noon PST

Majority of U.S.

Expedited
  Order by Friday, Dec. 18 at 5pm PST
Rush
  Order by Sunday, Dec. 20 at 11:59pm

All over the country, in states like Texas, California, New Hampshire, Georgia, Arizona, Texas, and Minnesota, faith communities are embracing the idea that their holiday celebrations can reflect the world the hope for and believe in. Upper Room, in Minneapolis, is one of those communities. Steve Conrad has spearheaded the initiative at his church, so we asked him to write a post that talks a bit about what they’re doing at Upper Room.

As a part of our Advent Conspiracy series, our church community (Upper Room) decided to partner with Trade as One to create a ‘Global Marketplace’.  We wanted to do more than just talk about how we can worship fully, spend less, and give more this Christmas season– we wanted to live out these ideas in tangible ways.

So, this past Sunday we transformed our sanctuary into a global market.  We set up big wooden crates and steel barrels to display the products that we received from Trade as One.  The whole service was built around the idea that our Christmas shopping can be done in a way that reflects the Kingdom of God and helps to bring justice and hope to people around the world.  The simple act of buying Fair Trade gifts can literally transform lives.

We talked about the world that Jesus was born into – a world full of poverty, sickness, and pain. We talked about how Jesus entered into the messiness and brokenness of people’s lives and brought life.

We then highlighted 5 different Fair Trade producers that work in various parts of the world. We talked about HIV/AIDS and how an organization like Beacon of Hope helps families whose lives have been devastated by this disease to rebuild their lives.  We highlighted the rugs that the women at Beacon of Hope make and described how purchasing a rug provides income that a woman in Kenya can use to buy medicine and feed her family.  We talked about human trafficking and how organizations like Nightlight help women escape from sexual slavery and prostitution in Thailand. We saw how purchasing jewelry made by Nightlight provides employment for women who no longer have to sell their bodies to earn enough to survive.  We saw how purchasing products from Fair Trade producers around the world provides hope, dignity, and opportunity for people who desperately need it.

At the end of the message, during the final worship songs, we invited the community to purchase products that they could give as gifts.  It was overwhelming to watch hundreds of people come forward and place orders.  It was a beautiful moment, where we got to live out our call as Christians to love and serve the least, the marginalized, and the forgotten around the world.

As people give the gifts that they purchased to family and friends, the story will continue.  Many people commented on how excited they were to tell the stories of these products to those who will receive them.

From all of us at Upper Room in Minneapolis, we want to say thanks to Trade as One for all the work that they do and for allowing us to help share the love of Jesus with people around the world in a unique and wonderful way this Christmas season.

This year we’ve been fascinated by the idea of Just One. We’ve been brainstorming with our producers about new ways to express how important Just One Fair Trade purchase can be, and we’ve come up with some exciting numbers and stories that we’ll be sharing here on our blog every day for the next week or so. We’ll be talking about how our Christmas purchases here in America can provide health care, education, food, and other necessities for the women and men making the products that Trade as One sells. We’ll be uploading new products and stories every day, so make sure to check back, and please share these posts with your friends!

Just One Medium Telephone Wire Bowl - Two months of tuition for the child of an artisan in South Africa.

Many of the products Trade as One sells have an element of artistry about them, but these telephone wire bowls are just bursting with creative expression. Each bowl is hand-woven from telephone wire in South Africa, and preserves the artistic and cultural traditions of the region. We often ask people to smell the bowls, because they each smells faintly of a wood fire. These artisans hand-weave the bowls in their homes, where they often cook over a wood fire, and the bowl absorbs a bit of that smell. We like the thought that a little bit of the artisan’s home travels across the Atlantic and now adorns a home here in America.

The income received from these bowls allows the artisans the income to take care of their families. One medium telephone wire bowl gives them the chance to send one of their children to school for two months. It’s a unique opportunity to enjoy and handmade, unique, beautiful piece of homeware, and in the process support artisans in South Africa.

Click here to see all of the Telephone Wire Bowls available here on our site.

This year we’ve been fascinated by the idea of Just One. We’ve been brainstorming with our producers about new ways to express how important Just One Fair Trade purchase can be, and we’ve come up with some exciting numbers and stories that we’ll be sharing here on our blog every day for the next week or so. We’ll be talking about how our Christmas purchases here in America can provide health care, education, food, and other necessities for the women and men making the products that Trade as One sells. We’ll be uploading new products and stories every day, so make sure to check back, and please share these posts with your friends!

Just One Lantern - One week of schooling for the child of an artisan in India.

These Recycled Metal Tealight Lanterns are made by artisans in India struggling under the weight of poverty and the caste system. The income from making Just One of these lanterns gives them the opportunity to send a child to school for a week. This helps to break the cycles of poverty and dependency that trap so many in the developing world.

It almost goes without saying, but these Lanterns are really cool. They’re made from recycled metal (often from Reddi Whip cans), and function as a unique, fun, eco-friendly, Fair Trade way to light your home or patio.

Click here to see the Recycled Metal Tealight Lantern, and support hardworking artisans in India.