Presentation

Origins of the project

The European Fair Trade Fair originates from the development of Equi’Sol ’s activities. Equi’Sol is a French association, which has been promoting Fair Trade in the Rhône-Alpes region for over 12 years.

In the 1980’s and 1990’s, Fair Trade was not well-known and little developed out of specialised circles. At that time, Equi’Sol was distributing Fair Trade coffee packs to various stores and making consumers taste Fair Trade products on markets.

The fame of Fair Trade has quite grown; products are getting more diversified, ranges are broadened, the offer addresses professional stakeholders.

To go with the development of the Fair Trade sector, the association’s activities also turned towards professionals: work with local authorities, building links between professional stakeholders, organise technical round tables... In 2003 and 2005, Equi’Sol organised the “Assises Régionales du Commerce Equitable” - a regional Fair Trade encounter for various professional stakeholders and initiatives. The last ones included a European workshop, which arouse a lot of interest. Moreover, these meetings were lacking a concrete presentation of products; this is how the idea of a “European Fair Trade Fair” came up.

The first edition of “Fair Trade in Europe” (which took place in Lyon-Villeurbanne on February 1st, 2nd and 3rd, 2008) gathered 175 exhibitors coming from 20 different countries. In the wake of this success, Equi’Sol and its European and national partners have decided to try the experience again.

Who exhibits? Who visits?

First targets are all European Fair Trade stakeholders – importers, wholesalers, retailers, B to B stakeholders, as well as stakeholders in the field of educational, promotion, certification, or in the field of solidarity tourism and finance. The fair is also open to producers and Southern stakeholders involved in Fair Trade, who are at the heart of all work. The fair’s objective is to gather in a common place the various Fair Trade trends.

To exhibit at the fair, stakeholders must show that their activities meet Fair Trade standard requirements.

The fair’s aim is to favour meetings between stakeholders from various networks, countries or professional backgrounds (already involved in Fair Trade or not). It gives opportunity to share experience and information, to make business and handle negotiations. Thus, each person linked to Fair Trade, or interested by this sector, is invited to take part in the event: professional stakeholders, general public, students, pupils, elected representatives and community officers, public or private buyers, media … from every country [link to professional guests / general public guests]

The philosophy of the project

The European Fair Trade fair is organised by a non-profit organisation. It is part of the “Fair Trade in Europe” project, and is much more than a trade show. The project is driven by a European committee, and includes the implementation of various partnerships, in depth work on various themes, large scale collaboration. The Fair Trade in Europe project includes volunteers, trainees. It also goes with a large citizen mobilisation, aimed at creating reflection and projects around Fair Trade all year long.

The European Fair Ttrade Fair is in line with a coherent global approach: it tries to favour eco-mobility, waste sorting, the use of recycled material...

Newsletter

Register to the newsletter:

 Subscription  Unsubscribe

> Newsletter's archives

Search

Search:

 RSS feeds

> Whole site RSS feed

> Flux RSS français

> RSS feed english

> RSS-Feeds in deutsch

> Canales RSS en español

The flyer

The new leaflet for the european fair trade fair is here. Click to open a higher resolution version ! Ask to the team if you need bigger quantities.

Equisol's websites

Responsible purchasers website for local authorities, works councils, and businesses in Rhône-Alpes

Documentary resources website on fair public procurement.

Pedagogical resources website for teachers, professors and students.

Learning resource centre specialized in fair trade.