History of Fair Trade

Fair Trade as a movement began in the late 1940s when an American businesswoman began a women's sewing group in Puerto Rico run by the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC). To generate income for their local community, the MCC began selling their crafts to friends and neighbours in the United States under the name Self Help Crafts. At around the same time in 1946, according to the World Fair Trade Organisation, a non-profit organization called SERRV (Sales Exchange for Refugee Rehabilitation and Vocations) was established in the United States by the Church of the Brethren to form trade relationships with poor communities in South America. The first formal fair trade shop in the United States, where goods from SERRV and other like-minded organizations were sold, was established in 1958. Sales eventually expanded, beginning in 1962 to communities in Europe. After 34 years of successful trade, the project was renamed Ten Thousand Villages.

 Britannica.com cites, Europe joined the movement during the late 1950s, when the Quaker-led Oxford Committee for Famine Relief—now Oxfam International—began selling arts and crafts made by Chinese refugees in its shops in the United Kingdom. In 1964 the organization introduced handicrafts and Christmas cards made in other developing countries and officially created the first Fair Trade Organization.