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Ten Thousand Villages is a nonprofit fair trade organization that markets handcrafted products made by disadvantaged artisans from more than 120 artisan groups in 35 countries. more...

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As one of the world’s largest fair trade organizations, Ten Thousand Villages has spent more than 60 years cultivating long-term buying relationships in which artisans receive a fair price for their work and consumers have access to unique gifts, accessories and home décor from around the world. Ten Thousand Villages is a founding member of the International Fair Trade Association (IFAT) and a certified member of the Fair Trade Federation (FTF).

History

The global fair trade movement began with the founding of Ten Thousand Villages more than 60 years ago through the work of Edna Ruth Byler, a pioneering businesswoman. She was moved to take action by the poverty she witnessed during a trip to Puerto Rico in 1946.

Byler began a grassroots campaign among her family and friends in the United States by selling handcrafted products out of the trunk of her car. She believed that she could provide sustainable economic opportunities for artisans in developing countries by creating a viable marketplace for their products. For the next 30 years, Byler worked to connect individual entrepreneurs in developing countries with market opportunities in North America.

In the 1970s the small project moved out of Byler's basement to become SELFHELP Crafts of the World, an official program of the Mennonite Central Committee. In 1996, SELFHELP became Ten Thousand Villages, a retail company that has grown to feature more than 81 stores nationwide.

Artisan partners

Ten Thousand Villages encourages artisans to employ production methods that are environmentally sustainable and to use recycled and natural materials whenever possible. In 2007, Ten Thousand Villages redesigned stores to minimize environmental impact in order to meet the \"triple bottom line\" of economic, environmental and social sustainability.

Ten Thousand Villages establishes long-term trade relationships with groups that work with craftspeople who are most in need of work in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. The company often selects artisan partners that provide training and employment to those who have virtually no chance of securing employment in the mainstream labor market. Many of these artisans are disadvantaged because of disability, gender or ethnicity.

Ten Thousand Villages also purchases from export businesses that market handicraft products on behalf of thousands of artisans who lack access to markets. These groups provide tools and sustainable sources of income for small artisan workshops to develop their infrastructure and build business capacity. Export businesses enable artisans to build their local communities and preserve culture through the proliferation of traditional crafts.

Read more at Wikipedia.org