Last weekend The Toronto Fair Trade Show hosted their second event at 2nd Floor Events on the bustling hub of King and Spadina. Vendors with ready-made-wares carefully sourced from all over the globe were generous about telling the stories behind some beautiful, commercial-quality items. At first impression it is difficult not to notice the sophisticated design quality of the products, mostly handmade by artisans from developing countries who work hard to support themselves, their families as well as their community, by teaching these valuable skills to others.

For the everyday consumer little or no thought goes into buying staple foods like coffee or honey, outside of price or brand considerations. A movement to promote more conscious decision making about how our purchases actually impact the world is one of the goals of the Fair Trade Show, and this weekend’s show was truly evident that conscious shopping for commercially desirable products can easily go hand in hand.

The Fair Trade Show launched their first show in November 2014. After this latest summer show more Torontonians are just a little bit more conscious about who we decide to support in creating our goods. Keep an ear out for their next show in November, and perhaps make your shopping a little more thoughtful for the Christmas season.

Keep tabs on The Toronto Fair Trade Show on Facebook and find out more about what it means to choose ‘fair trade’.