Editing Fair trade (section)

=== Rise of labeling initiatives ===
[[File:Oldftlogos2.jpg|thumb|Early Fairtrade Certifications Marks from various countries]]<!-- FAIR USE of Oldftlogos2.jpg: see image description page at [[:File:Oldftlogos2.jpg]] for rationale -->Sales of fair trade products only took off with the arrival of the first [[Fairtrade certification]] initiatives. Although buoyed by growing sales, fair trade had been generally confined to small worldshops scattered across Europe and, to a lesser extent, North America. {{weasel inline|text=Some felt|date=March 2022}} that these shops were too disconnected from the rhythm and the lifestyle of contemporary developed societies. The inconvenience of going to them to buy only a product or two was too high even for the most dedicated customers. The only way to increase sale opportunities was to offer fair trade products where consumers normally shop, in large distribution channels.<ref>{{cite journal | doi = 10.1016/S0743-0167(02)00051-7 | last = Renard | first = M-C | year= 2003| title = Fair Trade: quality, market and conventions |journal=Journal of Rural Studies|volume=19 | issue = 1 | pages =87–96| bibcode = 2003JRurS..19...87R }}</ref> The problem was to find a way to expand distribution without compromising consumer trust in fair trade products and in their origins.

A solution was found in 1988, when the first fair trade certification initiative, [[Stichting Max Havelaar|Max Havelaar]], was created in the Netherlands under the initiative of [[Nico Roozen]], [[Frans Van Der Hoff]], and Dutch development NGO [[Solidaridad (charitable organization)|Solidaridad]]. The independent certification allowed the goods to be sold outside the worldshops and into the mainstream, reaching a larger consumer segment and boosting fair trade sales significantly. The [[Fairtrade labelling|labeling initiative]] also allowed customers and distributors alike to track the origin of the goods to confirm that the products were really benefiting the producers at the end of the supply chain.

The concept caught on: in ensuing years, similar non-profit Fairtrade labelling organizations were set up in other European countries and North America. In 1997, a process of convergence among "LIs" ("Labeling Initiatives") led to the creation of Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International, an umbrella organization whose mission is to set fair trade standards, support, inspect, and certify disadvantaged producers, and harmonize the fair trade message across the movement.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.fairtrade.net/tasks.html | title = Main Tasks | work = Fair trade | access-date = 27 January 2009 | year = 2006 | publisher = FLO International | archive-date = 17 February 2009 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090217225829/http://www.fairtrade.net/tasks.html | url-status = dead }}</ref>

In 2002, FLO launched an International Fairtrade Certification Mark. The goals were to improve the visibility of the Mark on supermarket shelves, facilitate cross border trade, and simplify procedures for both producers and importers. The certification mark is used in more than 50 countries and on dozens of different products, based on FLO's certification for coffee, tea, rice, bananas, mangoes, cocoa, cotton, sugar, honey, fruit juices, nuts, fresh fruit, quinoa, herbs and spices, wine, [[Football (ball)|footballs]], etc.

With ethical labeling, consumers can take moral responsibility for their economic decisions and actions. This supports the notion of fair trade practices as "moral economies".<ref name=":1" /> The presence of labeling gives consumers the feeling of "doing the right thing" with a simple purchase.

Labeling practices place the burden of getting certification on the producers in the Global South, furthering inequality between the Global North and the Global South. The process of securing certification is burdensome and expensive. Northern consumers are able to make a simple choice while being spared these burdens and expenses.<ref>{{Cite journal|title = Alternative production and consumption relations?: fair trade, the state, and cooperatives in the global South|journal = Journal of Contemporary African Studies|date = 2013-01-01|issn = 0258-9001|pages = 1–17|volume = 31|issue = 1|doi = 10.1080/02589001.2012.752958|first = Michelle|last = Williams|s2cid = 154318222}}</ref>