Gifts with global benefit

Gifts made by small manufacturers in poor countries are the core of the Swedish business Fair Unlimited.
Fair Unlimited was founded in 2003 with the vision of helping to combat poverty. The company does this by helping manufacturers in developing countries to develop their potential. Fair Unlimited sells Fairtrade-labelled gift items to companies and organisations.

Fair Unlimited has an extensive range of products – from clothes to cups, chocolate and footballs with printed logos to gift boxes. All made by small companies around the world. Approximately half of the products are purchased through wholesalers, but the rest are ordered directly from the manufacturers.

Dialogue rather than sanctions
Generally speaking, Fair Unlimited has to accept higher prices, lower quality and a smaller choice if it wants to buy from small manufacturers. The company also has to accept a number of demands which are part and parcel of the Fairtrade labelling.

Companies who buy Fairtrade products cannot, for example, put pressure on the manufacturer in the way that they otherwise would when it comes to price, quality, presentation of the goods or delivery deadlines. Fair Unlimited meets these demands and the company also interacts with the manufacturers itself. If, for example, the quality of the goods delivered is not good enough, Fair Unlimited talks to the manufacturer about how the quality can be raised to make the manufacturer’s goods generally more attractive to the western market.

New ways of thinking Fairtrade
Before the establishment of Fair Unlimited, there were no pure so-called business-to-business companies based on Fairtrade principles in Sweden. The company was backed by five entrepreneurs who all injected cash into the company. Only one of them is active in the company today.

In 2007, Fair Unlimited received the Globe Award for Best CSR Entrepreneur in Sweden. CSR stands for Corporate Social Responsibility.
Globe Award is given in recognition of companies that have demonstrated particular social responsibility by meeting the UN's standards. Under the Global Compact initiative, the UN has formulated ten principles for companies within the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption.