END OF AN ERA FOR CREATED GIFTS After nearly forty years of pioneering sales of fairly traded products, Tearfund will this year celebrate the successes of Created Gifts as they start to bring the business to a close. Created, which started as Tearcraft in 1975, was one of the UK’s first enterprises trading in fairly traded products and has sold jewellery, gifts, cards and homewares to thousands of customers in the UK. Created’s successes in making fairly traded products popular has led to significant increase in customer demand, now met by a range of retailers, and Tearfund will wind down the business over the next three years. “We know that our trading has helped thousands of artisans in poor communities around the world, through a pro-poor business financially breaking even to make sure that we are sustainable,” said Matthew Frost, Tearfund Chief Executive. “Over the time we have been in business we have seen consumer awareness grow and now fair trade goods are available on every high street. We’re very proud of the part we have played in making that happen. “However, when we forecast the next few years, we conclude that sustainable trading is no longer possible for us. Increasing product costs, tough retailing conditions in the UK and the growing number of sources of fair trade products mean that we are finding that our own business will not remain viable and so we have taken the strategic decision to close the business and celebrate all we have achieved.” Trading will continue during the next two years, and the many volunteers who sell Created products will take part in a number of celebrations to mark the successes of the last forty years of trading. ENDS
Posted on: Mon, 10 Mar 2014 16:12:05 +0000
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