Jeremy has always been involved in essential causes since his first steps as a student at York University where he was at the same time struggling with friends to defend homeless people in the city of York. The current Managing Director of Shared Earth then told how he started in 1986 after his hitch-hiking trip to India a few years before.
The first Shared Earth shop opened in York Goodramgate in 1986 before moving to a wonderful location at Minster Gates in 1993. After 5 years, Shared Earth had 4 shops. The company has experienced successes and failures along the road and today Shared Earth has 10 shops around the country and is the biggest non-food Fair Trade retailer in UK. The company can definitely be proud of being an important part of raising awareness about Fair Trade.

The environment remains an important issue for Jeremy who rapidly sold ranges of recycled greetings cards with original designs from Bali.

After that speech students asked Jeremy some questions he was keen to answer.

1- How do you ensure that the suppliers conform to the fundamentals and ethical aspects of Fair Trade?
JP: I have met a lot of suppliers through the WFTO (World Fair Trade Organization) meetings. To be members of the WFTO, the producers have to prove that they are dealing with the Fair Trade principles and regulations. WFTO often send representatives to visit the groups of suppliers to check on such things as the parity between men and women workers and that they are not exploiting children. As a result we can be sure that those suppliers respect the Fair Trade regulations. But we also work with groups of suppliers who are not in the WFTO (often really small groups of producers) and on that point it is a question of trust. For example, we are working with a group of producers called Aspiration International from India and that supplier has been recommended to us by Oxfam Australia which has been working with them for many years now.

2- How do you translate Fair Trade into profits?
JP: A Fair Trade shop is the same as an ordinary shop, the main difference is that we are paying our suppliers more. We are paying them the right price for their work. Fair Trade is about trying to pay fair prices to people to allow them to make a living, send children to school, have an access to health care… Our products are not especially more expensive than elsewhere (actually they are sometimes cheaper!). We do not make excessive margins on it, compared to certain conventional shops.

3- What do you think about the mainstream retailers moving to ethical products? Is it going to undermine the Fair Trade concept?
JP: I first think that this phenomenon is a danger because for most retailers it is only a marketing concept and a way of advertising. Otherwise, I think that the real change can’t be without mainstream retailers and wholesalers. I really believe in the new generations who are going to be more and more sensitive about that subject and who will one day be in charge of those stores.

Fair Trade is about money, and also about people, Fair Trade targets the weakest. Lots of Fair Trade organisations are non profit ones which help several groups of producers to export, provide them with trading knowledge, help them with the production and the designs… Jeremy Piercy told about the birth of his Fair Trade adventure, incredible people he has met along the way, things he has discovered and how he is committed to environmental and people issues in his interesting first book “Coffins, Cats & Fair Trade Sex Toys”.

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