Flirt With Fair and Make It Fair This Valentines Day!

This year, for the first time, shoppers can buy Fairtrade roses and fine wines as well as luxury chocolates for their Valentines. By buying Fairtrade they’ll also be spreading some love around the world to the producers of their gift, giving them a chance to build secure and dignified lives for themselves and their children.

Over 500 retail products now carry the FAIRTRADE Mark. We’ve picked out a few to help smooth the path of true love this February 14th. (For a full list, visit www.fairtrade.org.uk/products.htm .)

Roses

Who could resist your advances if you woo them with beautiful Fairtrade roses from Kenya? Speak your heart with this classic Valentine’s bloom - a single blood-red rose. Fairtrade single red roses are available from Sainsbury’s. A mixed bouqet in vase are available from www.tesco.com/flowers . This delightful bouquet contains 18 blooms in mixed colours that are expertly arranged and hand-tied together with pinches of beargrass and presented complete with a glass vase for hassle-free enjoyment. Thanks to Fairtrade, the farmers that grow the flowers receive an additional payment of 8% over the export price of their crop. This extra money is being used to build a school for workers’ children, housing for workers and environmental projects to treat water through the plantation of reed beds.

Chocolates

• If your sweetheart appreciates the finer things in life, pamper them with delicious Fairtrade Belgian Chocolates from Oxfam and Traidcraft. Oxfam Fairtrade Belgian Chocolates are available from Oxfam and Traidcraft Belgian Finest Selection are available from www.traidcraftshop.co.uk .
• Give someone you’re sweet on a portable reminder of you with a Pocket Pack of Maya Gold Squares from Green & Black’s, containing 12 individually wrapped pieces of dark chocolate with orange and spices. The cocoa used in Maya Gold is grown in the poorest part of Belize by members of the Toledo Cocoa Growers Association (TCGA). Green & Blacks Maya Gold Squares Pocket Pack is available from Oxfam.
• “Valentine, you’re Divine – be mine!” - these mini golden eggs speckled with tiny red hearts will say it all. Made from delicious milk chocolate by Divine Chocolate. In addition to receiving a Fairtrade price premium for their crop, the cocoa farmers at Kuapa Kokoo in Ghana are also shareholders in the company. This means they have a say in how the chocolate is produced and sold as well as a share in the profits. They are available from Tesco, Oxfam, Liberty’s and Waitrose.
• Sweeten the moment with Chocaid’s rich, indulgent champagne-flavour truffles made with love and care in Belgium, and covered in dark chocolate made from Fairtrade cocoa and sugar.
  Chocaid Fairtrade Champagne Truffles are available from Budgens and www.chocaid.com

Wines from Chile

• Co-op Fair Trade Chilean Carmenere
  Co-op Fair Trade Chilean Oaked Semillon
  Co-op Fair Trade Chilean Merlot Rose
  Co-op Fair Trade Chilean Cabernet Syrah.
  Available from Co-op stores
• Ehrmann’s Los Robles Fair Trade Chilean Carmenere
  Ehrmann’s Ochre Mountain Fair Trade Cabernet Merlot
  Available from some Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and www.johnlewis.com/waitrosewine

Wines from South Africa

• Thandi Fairtrade Chardonnay (International Wine Challenge Gold Medal winner)
  Thandi Fairtrade Cabernet Sauvignon
  Thandi Fairtrade Pinot Noir
  Thandi wine is produced on one of the progressive black empowerment farm projects in the Elgin Valley, South Africa. The project aims to enable a community of black workers to take control of production and also benefit from the profits. The word Thandi means “love” in the Xhosa language.
  Available from Tesco, Waitrose and the Co-op
• Friarwood Ormer Bay Pinotage
  Friarwood Ormer Bay Chenin Blanc
  Friarwood Ormer Bay Merlot
  Friarwood Ormer Bay Rock Art Cabernet Pinotage
  Available from Friarwood’s stores in London and Edinburgh and www.friarwood.com

One for the boys!

Break the mould and give the man in your life something to play with all year round. The UK’s first Fairtrade football is a fantastic gift for a footie fan! These balls come from three factories in Pakistan where stitchers receive a wage calculated to provide enough money for two earners to provide all the basic necessities for their family without having to send their children to work. Workers also receive medical care and access to a micro credit scheme to enable them to develop other revenue streams, as well as good working conditions with sufficient light and ventilation.
Available from the Co-op and www.fairdealtrading.co.uk

Notes to editors:
The FAIRTRADE Mark is an independent consumer label which appears on products as a guarantee that disadvantaged producers are getting a better deal. Today, more than 5 million farmers, workers and their families across 49 developing countries benefit from the international Fairtrade system.

The Fairtrade Foundation is an independent body that awards the FAIRTRADE Mark to products which meet international Fairtrade standards.

Over 500 Fairtrade products are now available in the UK, and the range is growing everyday.

Fairtrade Fortnight runs from 1st-13th March 2005. Fairtrade Fortnight is an annual event, and this year’s theme is “Check Out Fairtrade”.

For more information, samples or images, please phone 020 7440 7686 or email media@fairtrade.org.uk

The Fairtrade Foundation, Room 204, 16 Baldwin’s Gardens, London EC1N 7RJ.
Tel: 020 7405 5942 Fax: 020 7405 5943 Web: www.fairtrade.org.uk