Our Fair Trade Credentials

 

Here at Beddgelert Woodcraft, we pride ourselves on our fair trade credentials, yet the Indonesian craftspeople we work with are often just family groups or cooperatives and too small to meet the criteria required to receive the stamp of approval from the Fair Trade organisation so we personally ensure that our buying is done ethically.

You may wonder how we do this… simple we go and doing the buying ourselves!

It’s a tough job but someone has to travel around the world, meet suppliers and ensure our standards are being upheld. These include checking all producers are offering a fair wage, workers have a safe workplace, there is no exploitation, women are treated fairly and the community benefits from the trade we bring. What better way to spend 6 weeks at the end of October!

We work very hard and are proud to maintain this working ethic. Our produce is designed on-site, sourced personally, and purchased FAIRLY from a small selection of trusted craftspeople in Indonesia, some of whom we have worked with for many a decade.

We ship in our goodies once a year, usually in February which gives us time to prepare it all ready for what we always hope will be a busy year ahead.

In doing this, trading fairly, minimal shipping and sourcing personally we're able to:

• Ensure that all the craftspeople and friends involved in creating our products receive the price they request for their wares, enabling them, in turn, to employ and pay their small family co-operatives.

• Offer you the products at a fair price since we haven't had to pay a company to do the hard work for us.

• Employ a small team of workers on-site, all of whom are fortunate enough to remain employed in the winter months, which is no mean feat in a small village remaining almost solely reliant on tourism.