Dear friends
Here is the latest update from Fairer World, accompanied by a new Food Products price list and a new Cleaning and Household Products price list, both dated 02.06.25.
The overall economic situation at Fairer World at present is mixed. We were very busy on some days in the crucial selling period before Easter and disappointingly quiet on other days – presumably weather related. Sales in May have equally been up and down, however, despite the prevailing good weather. A root cause may be the lower number of people who shop in the city nowadays. The number of empty shops in Gillygate at present would seem to suggest this, too.
A feature of what many customers have been buying during 2025 is a high number of Palestinian products, both food and crafts, presumably as customers see the part they can play in helping to directly support Palestinian families, whilst, at the same time, helping preserve Palestinian culture and tradition. For our part at Fairer World, the high sales, in turn, have enabled us to keep a very good stock of all available Palestinian products. Our suppliers of Palestinian goods have been able to keep the prices of most products the same as last year, so we have only isolated price increases in this area.
In general terms, we are well stocked in nearly all our food and craft product ranges, which means we are well placed for a busy rest of 2025 – hopefully! And we are well resourced to continue making deliveries to customers. Please keep sending orders to us, by email, text or phone.
As far as our fair trade suppliers are concerned, reading between the lines, our guess is that a number of our food suppliers are having a difficult time. Changing climate and Inflation, on a global scale, may well be contributing a lot towards this. And we think that the impact of the closure of Traidcraft plc two and a half years ago is still being felt by other fair trade companies, with the loss of what was a key customer for some of them, because Traidcraft included fair trade products from other companies in its range.
The new price lists for Food products and for Cleaning & Household products include price rises in Cafedirect coffees and Divine chocolate products, unfortunately. These price increases will apply as soon as new stock goes out on the shop shelves. For some products, like Cafedirect caffeinated instant coffees 100g, which are at present out-of-stock at Fairer World and also out-of-stock at our suppliers’ warehouses, this increase will be applied as soon as they come back into stock, whereas, where we have good stocks of other Cafedirect and Divine products at Fairer World, the price increases will be delayed until present stocks are exhausted. We have good stocks of Clipper instant coffees and tea bags so there are no increases in the prices of these products, even though prices are rising at our suppliers. Some other coffee products and herb teas as well as some dried fruit and cocoa are also increasing in price, a situation that is beyond our control.
Food products update
New products: Wish4 Fairtrade biscuits, Fairtrade certified lemon, ginger and oat varieties. All Palestinian food products are in stock. Seasonal ones are expected to arrive in September.
Divine chocolate bars continue to be probably the most popular individual product at Fairer World but Tony’s 180g chocolate bars are becoming increasingly noticed.
Cleaning and Household products update
New fairly traded Seep rubber gloves, made in Sri Lanka – medium and large sizes.
New recycled paper Suma Ecoleaf facial tissues.
Suma has reduced the size of its toilet rolls, noticeably, and also reduced the price of them a little. Two pack Suma kitchen rolls have increased in price but single kitchen rolls have stayed the same.
All soap products from all our suppliers are in stock – prices of these, and of Bio-D and Ecover cleaning products, have remained steady.
Craft products update
More supplies of Palestinian pottery including some blue pottery and some in a traditional Palestinian Hamra Zuma yellow design, are on the shop shelves, plus restocks of olive wood and mother of pearl Palestinian crafts. We have a range of kufiyas back in stock at Fairer World, although prices have risen considerably. The kufiyas are authentic and of good quality, however, sourced either from one of the last two kufiya factories in Palestine or from a kufiya factory in Amman, Jordan, which was formerly based in Jericho.
More handmade cards from Bangladesh, India, Kenya and Nepal.
More earrings from Mexico at affordable prices, and silver jewellery from Bali.
More papier mache boxes, cats and owls from Kashmir.
More painted wooden jigsaws and cloth dolls from Sri Lanka and more rainbow pottery from Thailand.
All the above products sell well at Fairer World, so we are very pleased that our suppliers, in turn, have been able to keep them available to be ordered.
Clothing to return to Fairer World in mid June
We removed our clothing rail before Christmas last year as we couldn’t find room in the shop to do justice to the garments. We are planning to bring back adult’s clothing to the Fairer World shop during the middle of June and to add some children’s clothing also.
Some diary dates
Monday 16 to Sunday 22 June Refugee Week 2025. Theme: Community as a Superpower. Details at refugeeweek.org.uk/.
Monday 22 September to Sunday 5 October Fairtrade Fortnight 2025. Theme: Fairtrade and Climate Justice. Details at https://www.fairtrade.org.uk/.
Moira and Charlie Bridge
Fairer World