Ten Thousand Villages and Global Trade

Last Thursday we went to the Ten Thousand Villages store in Montreat. There was a short presentation given describing their institution and its philosophy as well as the concept of fair trade. Ten Thousand Villages buys handicrafts and other goods from artisans in developing nations in the global south at a fair price and sell them to consumers in the global north through their stores and online. The people they purchase their goods from would otherwise be unemployed or underemployed. They would be making very little income from their craft by selling their wares at extremely low and unfair prices to large, exploitative corporations like Pier One Imports. Ten Thousand Villages pays their producers what they call a fair living wage and provide at least half of the producers’ income. Another policy of theirs is that they pay fifty percent of the total payment upfront so that the artisans will have enough funds to complete the projects. They also choose handicrafts that reflect and reinforce individual cultural traditions. By providing monetary support as well as choosing products that reflect the producers’ cultural heritage, Ten Thousand Villages helps to give them economic viability and better preserve their individual culture and its traditions.

By monetarily and culturally supporting small-scale producers directly, fair trade offers an alternative to the current exploitative global capitalist system. In the current system, poverty stricken peoples of developing countries are expected and forced to abandon their own culture and its traditions. They must adjust their work lives and cultural tastes to the demands of a global market. In doing so many people must work for minute wages or sell their crafts for a tiny fraction of the final price so that they can compete on the global market. Such a small income leads to a wide range of problems, from