Choose Sustainable Commerce this Christmas

 

General Merchandise

Gaiam

www.gaiam.com/retail/gai_shophome.asp

Gaiam has a comprehensive selection of retail items for customers who value the environment, a sustainable economy, healthy lifestyles, alternative healthcare and personal development. They also have a selection of fair trade artisan gifts here:

www.gaiam.com/retail/2/fairtrade

 

Greenfeet

www.greenfeet.com

Ecologically-made stuff for your home.

 

Shirts of Bamboo

www.shirtsofbamboo.com

They make clothing and bath items out of bamboo.

 

Artisan Gifts

Ten Thousand Villages (local!)

Beautiful, fair-trade and sustainably-created artisan gifts and home décor.

7947 Santa Fe Drive

Overland Park, KS 66204

 

World’s Window (local!)

Loads of wonderful, fairly traded and environmentally sustainable clothing, home décor and gifts.

332 W. 63rd St.

Kansas City, MO 64113

 

A Greater Gift

www.agreatergift.org

A Greater Gift is a program of SERRV International, a nonprofit alternative trade and development organization. Their mission is to promote the social and economic progress of people in developing regions of the world by marketing their products in a just and direct manner.

 

Global Exchange

www.globalexchangestore.org

They generate income for thousands of artisans and their families in over 40 countries, by operating according to Fair Trade Criteria.

 

Global Crafts

www.globalcrafts.org

Making a difference one purchase at a time.

 

Handmade Expressions

www.handmadeexpressions.net

Note: this is a wholesale company. Email them to ask if there are any stores that carry their products locally. They partner with grass-root level NGOs/ artisan cooperatives and help them create high quality, trendy, hand-crafted goods that are tailored for international markets, thus providing them with sustained employment and fair wages. The artisans produce art forms native to their regions and use natural fibers/ recycled materials wherever possible.

 

Vintage, salvaged, repurposed items

Urban Mining Homewares (local!)

www.urbanmininghomewares.com

3924 Walnut

Kansas City, Mo.

A one weekend per month sale by a group of vendors dedicated to environmental sustainability through reusing and repurposing items! A (mostly) vintage market for affordably priced vintage furniture and textiles, architectural salvage, old mirrors, mid-century lamps and whimsical treasures.

 

Kids

Progressive Kid

www.progressivekid.com

Toys, games, and lots of other stuff for growing kids. Their mission is to support the development of progressive kids, so that the next generation will be equipped and prepared to care for our planet and the many forms of life that live on it.

 

Drinks and Chocolate

Equal Exchange

www.equalexchange.com

They offer organic, gourmet coffee, tea, sugar, cocoa, and chocolate bars produced by democratically run farmer co-ops in Latin America, Africa and Asia.

 

Gift Baskets (food and spa)

Eco Express

www.ecoexpress.com

Earth friendly gourmet, spa and rainforest baskets.

 

Global Exchange

www.globalexchangestore.org

They generate income for thousands of artisans and their families in over 40 countries, by operating according to Fair Trade Criteria.

 

Sports equipment

Respect (Fair Trade Sports)

www.fairtradesports.com/gearshop

Fair trade sports equipment. They donate all profits after taxes to children’s charities.

 

Cloth Shopping bags

EcoBags

www.ecobags.com

 

Redirected gifts

Heifer Project

www.heifer.org

Give a gift, in the name of your loved one, of chickens, sheep, rabbits, or other livestock to families who can use the livestock-generated income to eat and send their children to school. Click on “gift catalog.”


Store opening soon…

Project Good

www.projectgood.com

An upcoming online marketplace where you will be able to purchase fair trade certified goods. Visit their website to subscribe now to their electronic newsletter, so you can find out when you can start shopping.

 

More Info

Coop America

www.coopamerica.org

Their mission is to harness economic power—the strength of consumers, investors, businesses, and the marketplace—to create a socially just and environmentally sustainable society.

 

John Perkins

www.johnperkins.org

John wrote Confessions of an Economic Hit Man and The Secret History of the American Empire, very personal books detailing his role in helping the US government and US corporations pave the way for unjust global commerce (and how we got sweatshops in the first place), his change of heart, and his tireless efforts in recent years to reverse the damage that has been done.

 

Educating for Justice

www.educatingforjustice.org

Works to educate and empower people to take action to end social injustice.

 

Responsible Shopper

www.responsibleshopper.org

Find out how globally responsible your favorite brands and companies are (companies like LL Bean, Victoria Secrets, Nike, Gap, WalMart, Coca Cola, etc.)