Crossroads Trade

Crossroads Trade seeks out the best of the ethnic arts. A member of the Fair Trade Federation. Crossroads Trade is also dedicated to ensuring fair trade. The crafts are purchased directly from artisans, cooperatives, refugee communities, economic development initiatives and a limited number of wholesalers who subscribe to fair trade principles. Artisans are paid promptly, receive a fair wage by local standards and set the price for their work. Working conditions are clean, safe and accessible. Nonetheless, artisans' lives remain arduous. Many are in refugee camps, or destitute, windswept villages where their traditional arts are the only viable living. Getting their products to consumers, however, remains a formidable barrier. Often artisans must walk many miles to bring their work out of the villages. In other cases, artisans have no access to packing and shipping supplies. In addition, each country has its own regulations for export of goods. Finally, the United States has costly and onerous regulations for goods coming into the U.S., particularly textiles. In each case, Crossroads Trade works with the artisans to find a way to bring their goods to market.