Bishopston Trading Malmesbury

Here are some photos of our new Malmesbury shop: from a work in progress, to the opening party last Saturday featuring plenty of Fairtrade bubbly, kindly donated by the co-op across the road, and a brief ribbon-cutting ceremony with the town mayor. Hope to see you there sometime soon.

Fair Trade Bucks the Recession

Whilst many retailers are closing stores or even leaving the high street altogether, we are proud to announce the opening of our fifth store today!

To the delight of green fashionistas and ethical consumers across the west-country, our range of organic Fairtrade cotton clothing is now available at 11 High Street, Malmesbury, Wiltshire.

For 24 years we have worked in partnership with the village of K.V.Kuppam in South India, providing long-term, stable employment to hundreds of local villagers. The original inspiration for the company was the simple assertion made by one of the villagers, that as skilled craftspeople they need work not charity. This has remained the founding principle of the business.

The recent collapse of an economic system based on short-term profits and disregard for the welfare of communities, has only served to further motivate the members of our workers' cooperative to extend our business model that is based on partnership, transparency and fairness. Opening a fifth shop enables us to maintain (or fingers crossed, perhaps even increase) our level of orders with our partners in K.V.Kuppam, ensuring they can continue to offer full-time employment to all their members.

The fifth shop is the latest addition to our modest chain that includes, Bishopston Bristol, Bradford on Avon, Glastonbury and Totnes, as well as our thriving Mail Order and Wholesale departments.

With concern for the environmental and social effects of our shopping habits increasing every day, Fair Trade makes sense, and is becoming the first choice for discerning shoppers. We are proud to be expanding during these challenging economic times.