Fairtrade and Fair Trade

There is much confusion between the terms Fairtrade—one word—and Fair Trade—two words. The difference is important, and both terms are used on the Fair Trade Stirling website.

Fairtrade, one word, is a trademark owned by FLO (Fairtrade Labelling Organisations International), a consortium of several national labelling groups that have come together to promote Fairtrade and assure that standards for their products are met. FLO authorises use of the trademark and controls its application. The Fairtrade logo assures that appropriate standards have been met in the production of many farm products, plus the manufacture of sports balls.

Fair Trade is a generic term, referring to the concept of supporting fair, open, and honest trade for all people involved, with a focus on the people who have been coming up short in the realm of international trade.

Fair Trade Stirling takes an active interest in all aspects of the issues, including peripheral ones that disproportionately affect people in less advantaged areas, including links with other key challenges that disproportionately affect people in less advantaged areas, such as climate change. One of the major international Fair Trade organizations, NEWS (Network of European Worldshops), has taken particular interest in climate change, having launched a two year program, Fair Trade Creates the Right Climate, to focus interest on the issue.

Fair Trade Stirling supports a wide variety of Fair Trade efforts, but has a special interest in Fairtrade, single word. We were instrumental in coordinating the effort to achieve Stirling's Fairtrade City status, which is authorised by the FLO Fairtrade Towns program, and we take great pride in this accomplishment. To this end, we strive to assure that Fairtrade products are widely available and to bring awareness of Fairtrade goals and products to the people of Stirling.

For more information about the major Fair Trade organisations in Europe and the world, including FLO's Fairtrade, please click on the "About Fair Trade" link in the menu to the left.

Throughout our site, the term Fairtrade refers only to products and systems licensed by and associated with FLO. Whenever Fair Trade appears as two words, you will be seeing information that references a generic sense of the term.