What’s On profiles fairtrade shopping in Dubai with a list of shops selling fairtrade in Dubai, like Raw Coffee Company, L’Occitane, Organic Foods & Café.

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– Online supermarkets
– How to haggle
– Dubai’s souk – guide

Fairtrade is a phrase that’s becoming increasingly used, but what exactly is it, how do you ‘go’ Fairtrade, and where can you find reputable retailers? Our friends at ‘good‘ find out all you need to know.

FINDING FAIRTRADE IN DUBAI

The Little Fairtrade Shop
This online hotspot is brimming with everything from Fairtrade food to stationery and accessories. Founded by Sabeena Ahmed, the shop is dedicated to not only encouraging the sale of Fairtrade products, but also supporting various charities across the world.

thelittlefairtradeshop.com

Raw Coffee Company
The team at Raw want to give you a cuppa with a conscience, and pride themselves on using 100 percent ethically traded coffee. And if that isn’t enough to tempt you down, their roasting methods most certainly will.

Warehouse 10, Corner 7a and 4a street, Al Quoz. rawcoffeecompany.com

Raw Coffee Company - Al Quoz, Dubai

L’Occitane
Beauty heavyweights, L’Occitane, create a Fairtrade soap in honour of Women’s Day, which donates 100 percent of its products to support the start up of and follow up of literacy classes in Burkina Faso. Since 2006 over 3,500 women have benefited from the classes and support to strengthen their income generating activity. The soap itself is made in a Burkinabe handicraft workshop.

hr.loccitane.com

The Change Initiative
This sparkling two-storey emporium is devoted to everything that’s eco-friendly. There are shelves of food, from pasta sauces to fresh bread to baby food. An ice cream parlour is attached to the chilled out café, which is a good spot to tap out some work on your laptop or meet with friends. There’s furniture, clothing for adults and children, toys. We liked the luggage made from recycled plastic bottles and the drinking glasses created from old bottles are fantastic. Don’t miss the collapsible sofa made from paper, the clocks on the wall going up the staircase, or the giant art piece of Gandhi that has a lovely anecdote alongside it.

 Al Barsha, Dubai, Sun to Thur 8am to 9pm, Fri and Sat 9am to 10pm. Tel: (800) 824. Taxi: Next to Al Zahra Hospital

The Change Initiative

THE One
It’s not often you come across a store that is filled with genuinely happy staff and its easy to see why the staff at The ONE are so cheery given the commitment the company has to the communities both in Dubai and in Palestine. Hand embroidered cushion covers and bracelets are purchased from Palestinian women in a refugee camp in Kalandia and then sold in store.

theone.com

The Body Shop
The Body Shop have always gained brownie points due to their long standing commitment to cruelty-free beauty, and with their policy of supporting community Fairtrade by using over a whopping 120 suppliers all across the globe, they are paving the way for other large companies to follow suit. The buyers for The Body Shop pride themselves on developing close relationships with the farmers and producers to ensure their businesses are expanding, even going as far as bringing the finished product to them which contains their ingredients. Being one of the founding members of the Ethical Trading Initiative in 1998, The Body Shop practise a policy of regular audits of the suppliers to make sure the people working for them are being treated well.

thebodyshop.com

The Organic Foods & Café
From Fairtrade teas to fresh fruit and veg, The Organic Foods & Café have a carefully selected number of farmers that they have chosen to trade with and value the importance of visiting the farms to ensure standards are being upheld.

organicfoodsandcafe.com

The Organic Foods and Cafe

BiOrganic
The organic food scene in Dubai has a new power player with this massive store. BiOrganic is a nicely laid out, spacious market with shelves of baby food, drinks, cereals, pasta and sweet treats, plus a big selection of savoury snacks including some incredible hummus chips. Fruit and veg is stacked in wooden crates; there’s a fresh meat counter; fridges are filled with dairy goods and there’s lots of fresh bread. A touch screen helps you navigate your way around. The attached café does healthy and organic light meals.

 I-Rise Tower, Tecom, Dubai, daily 8am to 9pm. Tel: (04) 4433535. Metro: Dubai Internet City. bioorganicstore.com

Fairtrade shopping in DubaiYOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED

What is Fairtrade?
In a nutshell, Fairtrade is a movement that strives to maintain fair terms of trade for farmers in developing countries. This includes decent working conditions, better prices and an emphasis on local sustainability. Fairtrade requires companies to pay these sustainable prices, which must never fall lower than the market price. Trade has traditionally discriminated against poorer countries, which has disabled the farmers and workers from improving their situation.

What is the Fairtrade minimum price?
This is the lowest possible price that a buyer of Fairtrade products must pay the producer. This price guarantees that the farmer can cover the cost involved in growing their crops.

What is the Fairtrade Foundation?
This organisation was developed to tackle poverty and injustice through trade. It works closely with farmers and workers along with larger organisations who purchase their goods to help them become self-sufficient.

What are the benefits of buying Fairtrade? 
Fairtrade products come with a good conscience and support producers who want to improve their lives and get out of poverty. By buying Fairtrade you are helping to empower farmers and workers.

What are Fairtrade standards?
The Fairtrade Foundation have minimum social, economic and environmental requirements which the producers must meet. Progress requirements are also in place to make sure the development of the farmers business is improving.

What sort of products can be Fairtrade?
Thousands of products can be Fairtrade including tea, coffee, seed cotton and fresh fruits, plus handicrafts.

When did Fairtrade come about?
The first Fairtrade label to launch was Max Havelaar in 1988, a coffee company that took its name from a fictional Dutch character who opposed the exploitation of coffee pickers.

To find out more about Fairtrade and how you can contribute, visit fairtrade.org.uk