World Fair Trade Day - every second Saturday in May, makes us reflect on the fight against poverty, exploitation and climate change. It is a day to bring us back to consciously think about working conditions worldwide, because everyone deserves to be treated fairly with normal wages. However, there are still thousands of people working in unfavourable conditions and being poorly paid.
Based on the motto 'together we are stronger', we at Exclusive Business Gifts also try to do our bit. As a provider of thousands of business gifts a year, we rely on a sense of responsibility that stands for equal opportunities, fair working conditions and a healthy climate. We are convinced that, as a employer, you would like to pass on this vision to your employees and/or clients to make a convincing statement for a fair working environment and positive impact on climate change.
World Fair Trade Day - History to the day of fair trade.
In the 1940s, a woman, Edna Ruth Byler, sold textiles from her truck boot. During a trip to La Plata Village in Puerto Rico, she noticed that women were struggling to sell their fine embroideries and struggling to support their families. This inspired her to expand her business by selling these beautiful embroideries to friends and family.
By the 1950s, she took her car full of embroideries to women's sewing clubs and parties in the United States to sell them, talking about the craftsmanship and living conditions of the women in La Plata Village. By doing so, she gave them economic security and increased the success of her own small business.
The awareness created by Edna's company evolved into a movement called Ten Thousand Villages, born out of a small act of kindness and a realisation by people around the world that workers should be well taken care of. In 1964, the first Fair Trade Organisation was founded with initiatives to help Chinese refugees, and so more and more Fair Trade Organisations with similar ideologies followed.
The World Fair Trade Organisation was finally established in 1989 with annual conferences to decide on best practices in working conditions. And later in 2004, World Fair Trade Day was established with the aim of fighting poverty and exploitation, climate change and the economic crisis so that the most vulnerable in society are protected.
A well-considered and carefully curated range of corporate gifts!
Our team of merchandisers curate our brands very selectively with one common goal, namely, to provide our customers with quality with a critical eye on the practices of our suppliers and the choice of their ingredients. In doing so, it is important to us that brands provide products that are artisanal and choose to use natural ingredients in their production processes, stemming from tradition and history, paying attention to whether they are committed to a better society in this way, whether in working conditions or climate change. Every brand that participates in this in its own way shows a sense of responsibility that we share with them and like to convey to our customers. We are pleased to introduce you to 3 of our favourite brands, each contributing in their own way to better working conditions and climate change.
Guylian chocolate - socially responsible enjoyment of Belgian chocolate
Guylian is the frontrunner of the Belgian chocolate industry thanks to the use of 100% Fairtrade purchased cocoa in all their chocolates. At Guylian, they make tasty and high-quality products, raising the bar ever higher around responsible craftsmanship. A few years ago, they decided to fully embrace sustainability and an ethical production chain. They do this not only by buying 100% Fairtrade cacao, but also by replacing palm oil with shea butter and sunflower oil. As a result, they offer products that are free of palm oil and soy, thus reducing deforestation and pollution. Since 2022, Guylian has been an official member of the Fairtrade family and by awarding a Fairtrade premium, they not only guarantee a fair and fixed price for cocoa farmers, but also co-invest in the farmers' production process and in their local community. They also have a partnership with Beyond Chocolate for sustainable Belgian chocolate with the aim of combating deforestation, promoting education for future generations and providing a living income for cocoa farmers.
Jules Destrooper - Tradition, age-old artisanal craft and 100% natural carefully selected ingredients
Jules Destrooper is a concept in Belgian biscuit country and a leader when it comes to using natural ingredients and respecting traditional production processes. This enables them to produce biscuits without colourings and preservatives while taking into account age-old traditions and honest working processes. In doing so, they not only choose to use natural ingredients such as 100% pure butter, spices from the Orient according to traditional old recipes without colouring agents and preservatives, but also chocolate, made according to a unique recipe specially created for Jules Destrooper with cocoa beans from America, Africa and Asia, which have been awarded with the Rainforest Alliance label, the hallmark for sustainable agriculture. With Jules Destrooper, you have a responsible biscuit in your hands, based on centuries-old traditions with ingredients of natural origin, selectively chosen to provide fair employment opportunities to both local producers and those worldwide.
The Vranken Pommery Monopole: Sustainable viticulture for tomorrow
For more than 20 years, the Vranken Pommery Monopole has been anticipating changes within winemaking to positively drive climate change. This is with a forward-looking vision and a strong concern for the environment and the impact on the health of employees and consumers. Nature is their greatest inspiration and they therefore seek to protect it while working with the utmost respect for the vines to achieve impeccable quality and to offer the champagnes not only the greatest but also the most preserved provenance.
Since 2014, the Vranken Pommery Monopole has achieved the dual labels of "Sustainable Viticulture in Champagne" and "High Environmental Value". These labels testify to many years of work and knowledge invested in the company which has led them towards sustainable viticulture, which today guarantees an extremely reduced use of wine protection agents, compensated daily by new methods such as biological control of insect pests.
With the Neptune project, they help prevent water wastage and the sites in the Camargue are certified organic wine producers, classified as "NATURA 2000". The approach taken has allowed them to develop an extraordinary biodiversity with nearly a thousand living species identified on their estates.
