Buying Ethical Gifts as an Alternative for Christmas
It won't be long and the Christmas season will once again be upon us. The good thing this season though, is that over the course of the past year the ethical gifts industry has only continued to expand. This of course means that this time around, there are just that many more choices when it comes time to shop.
More good news is that intensified competition for your business means that prices are now lower as selection has also expanded as well. So now it's pick and choose from just about every country and culture on the planet, with so many choices in exotic gift items that have all been produced and shipped in accordance with strict ethical standards.
Jewelry is of course one of the first things that comes to mind. There are just so many types of incredible ethical jewelry now available online. Great traditional designs, all hand crafted by indigenous peoples from all corners of the globe. Also the great thing about jewellery, is that being that it’s so small and light, it cost so little to ship it.
Silver jewelry of this type is now real big. So much to chose from and so incredibly affordable. The nice thing about all these exotic silver jewelry designs is that it doesn't have the “costume right out of the glass case” look to it. Rather these designs will keep people guessing all night from what country or province they are from.
Textiles clothing & all types of leather and woven fashion accessories are now also available as ethical gifts and it's about time. It got so bad some not too long back that it was almost impossible to find nice affordable things to wear that weren’t made by child or sweat shop labor. Thankfully though, all that has changed now.
In fact you can now find clothing and fashion accessories from places like Thailand, Indonesian and India that are produced ethically. Even intricate hand woven reed baskets and tote bags from countries like Laos Vietnam and Cambodia are now easily found online. Great organic coffees and teas too.
Always remember though, that the term “ethical gifts” is free for all to use and is subject to no regulation of any type. This means that any Bozo can set up a website and offer anything as being ethical even if his or her goods come straight out of a North Korean slave labor camp. This is why you should only shop from reputable websites.
Another way to insure that your ethical gift shopping money doesn't end up in the wrong hands is to buy ethical products certified with by Freetrade. Freetrade is an organization that was established to monitor and certify ethical gifts and other products and they do have very high standards.
In fact Freetrade representatives are in all countries that produce the products that they certify and they do frequent inspections to insure that their rules aren't being violated. This means that you can rest assured that anything with the Freetrade logo on it “is” made and shipped in a completely ethical fashion.
About the Author
Chris Tyrrell writes for Just Trade, an organisation that promotes and develops third world Fair Trade manufacturers. Visit the Just Trade ethical gifts website.
"Kebaya"The Indonesian Women Traditional Costume
traditional laos clothing
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