Why Buy Fair Trade
Purchasing fair trade souvenirs can protect exotic vacation destinationsBy Matt Lepkowski
Fellow travelers love to share stories of adventure. We want to hear about the exotic places others have traveled so we can add them to our next itinerary. There can be a friendly competition to see who has experienced the most unique cultures. 
This desire for far-flung destinations seems to be based on local traditions. Thanks to TV and the Internet it's easy to see how people across the world live. Unfortunately this is mostly a one-way exchange. Most of the media is produced in the West and consumed by the developing world. Indians watch the American comedy series "Friends" and Indonesia has Starbucks, even though coffee from Java is famous. Many more examples abound. This forces adventure travelers to venture further afield to find places without such western influences. We want to visit villages where people still wear traditional clothes and eat in cafes without microwave ovens.
When it comes to souvenirs, many people are content to purchase cheap yet colorful reminders of their exotic holidays. Textiles made in a large warehouse factory are affordable and look cool at home, regardless of how authentic they are. But how can we expect to visit "authentic" villages in the future when we don't support their traditional way of life? What happens when remote villages can't sell the products their grandparents used to make because all the tourists are buying imitations at the market? We can recount all too many examples where locals convert ancestral fields to different crops. In some cases the government encourages this, in other cases it's because they can't make a living growing the tradition staples. One example is natural dyes. If there are no more plants to make natural dyes this tradition will wither on the vine. If nobody purchases textiles made with natural dyes, only machine-made petrochemical yarns will exist in the future. It doesn't happen overnight, but eventually this is how traditions are lost.
Threads of Life is working to address these issues in order to preserve conventional methods, techniques, motifs and quality. Based in Ubud, Bali, Indonesia their most visible public effort is a retail gallery which sells original hand-made textiles and other products. As a World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO) member, they adhere to a strict code which strives for equity among producers, distributors, and consumers. In simple terms this means the people who create the textiles are paid a fair amount and are not forced to work in sub-par conditions. You might call the WFTO an anti-sweat-shop organization. Additional standards strive to protect the environment, develop locally owned business to improve the living conditions of rural native peoples, protect women and children, and preserve the customs of producers.
Behind the scenes, Threads of Life does a lot of work to promote the WFTO standards. These include field trips to remote villages that might be a few days walk from the nearest road, to interview natives and understand their concerns. In 2005 they held a conference to assemble weavers from the many islands of Indonesia to discuss the issues and develop action plans to protect the time-honored ways of producing textiles; including growing and processing cotton, raising plants used for natural dyes, mordant color fixing methods, weaving techniques, motif usage, and sales. Marketing and business development are major efforts used to assist native persons. On a practical level, they give weavers money up front to produce the highest quality textiles with traditional methods and ingredients.
When purchasing from Threads of Life, you are guaranteed to have an item made with the highest quality and integrity; and you are supporting the WFTO mission. The only other way to achieve authenticity is travel to the villages where these products are made and purchase them from the weaver directly. But, most people don't have the time, money, language skills, etc. to accomplish this. Purchasing items in the market in Ubud or elsewhere will almost surely result in a fake. Purchasing items from a fancy tourist shop may allow you to obtain a genuine article if you've done enough research, but will most likely result in very little financial benefit to the actual weaver; and likely won't be any cheaper than a WFTO store.
If we as adventure travelers want to continue to visit exotic locations, we need to support the native people who live in exotic locations. The easiest and best way to do this is to purchase handicrafts from a WFTO member. Otherwise we're just traveling to brag on Facebook with no concern for the future of the developing world; and in time there will be no more "exotic" places to visit.
Learn more about the WFTO at http://www.wfto.com/
Learn more about Threads of Life and Indonesian textiles, including which motifs and colors come from which islands at http://threadsoflife.com/
All the pictures in this article are from the Threads of Life shop in Ubud, Bali
Matt Lepkowski is the founder of TravelsInParadise.com and lives in the mountains of Colorado, USA.
See Matt's bio and more of his travel articles and pictures.
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