The focus of the Living Wage Store is on the people who make products. All imported products must be fairly traded to be in a living wage store. We work with existing NGOs or producer groups that already follow a policy of fair wages and worker conditions. 

Our primary concern is with conditions of production, rate of pay and the social and environmental costs of each product. Currently, there are many areas in the developing world where entire factory zones are developed.  Workers relocate from their villages to these industrial areas, disenfranchising them from their homes and communities.  We believe that maintaining handicraft production at the village level, or even in the home is preferable, as it is less destructive to the environment, family structure and culture. 

Equally important is cultural connection. All products imported will be sold with identification numbers so that products can be looked up on our website right at the retail store or in the buyer's home, to see photos of producers, their villages and production details. In this way, an item sold in the west is traced back directly to the source allowing for independent verification and a stronger cultural connection. We want the end purchaser to have a real connection:  to touch what the maker touched, use the Internet to see the maker and visualize the moment of production.   We are selling the cultural connection that only your store can provide. These will be truly amazing gifts!  Store owners, NGOs, and "ambassador level" travelers can make culturally sensitive visits, where appropriate, to support family producers in their villages. This independent verification information will be posted on the website along with the fairly traded item. In your store no one will ask "How do I know this purchase really helps?" 

In fact, "gifts with real meaning" are an important aspect.  Greeting card lines break from the current corporate standard and follow the same model as our other fairly traded goods. For example, a Living Wage line of "cards with real meaning", rather than offering impersonal standard greeting card comments, will contain short stories about real people and cross-cultural relationships.  Some cards may be custom-created in the store by computer/printer, with a photo of the accompanied gift's producer and family story, customized with the receivers name and choice of event or greeting.    

This cultural connection is unique to Living Wage because fair trade is the positive connection between you and the world. We use this positive relationship in all of our fairly traded goods and in our responsible travel services. WeTo see how a model fair trade coffee shop would look click here.