Fair Trade Federation Member Blogs - An Updated and Current List

It definitely takes effort to keep a blog current. And I do my best to keep the ball rolling on our Dunitz & Company blog. Have you read some of my entries? I've been at it for a long time. Sometimes I create gift guides that include products from my Fair Trade Federation colleagues. In recent times, I've taken up drawing portraits. For fun, I use Photoshop to add Dunitz designs. That has allowed me more opportunity to show off my artwork.  I also enjoy interviewing colleagues. Should I interview you next?

It's always a challenge to come up with new topics that might pique some interest. I was browsing our blog when I noticed the last time I updated a post about my Fair Trade Federation colleague's blogs was August 2024. That was a popular and very well-read entry.My first compilation of these blogs was in 2020 and I think it's important to keep this list current. I noticed on review, there were companies listed that are no longer affiliated with FTF. And there are others that haven't made any posts for a year or more and they've been removed. I just scoured all the FTF member websites so I could create an updated list of  Fair Trade Federation blogs. Since my 2024 post, I discovered five new active blogs from our community. I actually spotted a few FTF old-times who started blogging again. They've been added back.

I check in on my colleague's blogs from time to time. I share their stories on Bluesky and Threads. (We still have an X account, but I rarely check it or post on it. Every few months I might tweet something as proof of life.) When I click to read blogs, I want to discover recent posts. I have to believe that's what other people want to find as well. I know sometimes companies/people pause on writing, and then get back to it. If you start writing again, let me know and I'll add you to this list.

In no particular order, (but I did put the newest FTF members at the top of this list) check out the blogs of Fair Trade Federation members. Mine is listed last. (But it is also linked in the first paragraph above.)

AMASOUK - Check out AMASOUK and their recent blog post which proudly says they're walking the talk and what that means. They joined up with our Fair Trade Federation community in 2025. The products they offer come from Japan, Mexico and Morocco. (I want to visit Morocco!)

DIGNITY MADE - This new FTF member is already winning brownie points with me. Big time! I absolutely love that they are collaborative and support other Fair Trade Federation members. Their gift guide from December highlights their fabulous soaps (you know I like that) and their coconut oil products and products from other FTF members. LOVE that! And just wow, look at this blog post showing us all how to make farmhouse style waffles with their coconut oil! I've already posted that blog post to our Pinterest fair trade food board.

ECODUNIA - Oh my goodness. Ecodunia is a power blogger. They seem to be posting a few times every month. Let's talk about blogging energy! Many of their posts specifically address their fair trade products from Kenya. I particularly like their recent posts that is titled "5 Honest Questions to Ask Before you Buy Sustainable Fashion." Obviously they want the reader to know that their business is an ethical one. You however, can apply their questions to any business you might patronize. A+.

MENDED - Bravo to Mended. How incredible that they had the opportunity to pitch the Shark Tank sharks at a recent summit and were one of 3 finalists to receive a $35,000 reward. Read about their experience here. I know I'm impressed. Mended works with survivors of modern day slavery from South Asia. I scoured their site, but can't figure out what or which countries they work in. (When I was younger I traveled quite a bit in India and Sri Lanka and I was curious.)

VI BELLA - Vi Bella works with communities in Haiti and Mexico. I know I shouldn't editorialize, but seriously, making a difference in Haiti these days is a huge challenge. Since Vi Bella is a recent member of Fair Trade Federation, I like how they explained the FTF Principles and how they apply to their business in a recent blog post. It's a good review for all of us!

MAYAN HANDS - A few years back I became aware of Mayan Hands' blog when they wrote an article that touched me deeply. This particular entry delved into how many vendors in Guatemala call their designs recycled, when in reality, poor people desperate for money are selling them their family textile heirlooms. These in turn are sewn into bags, hats and coin purses. Ever since reading that post, I know Mayan Hands always has something important to say.

FAIR TRADE WINDS -  I love that Fair Trade Winds often writes about the lines they sell in their stores. They're so supportive and informative. In fact, they interviewed me not to long ago to commemorate Women's History Month.  They also post some fabulous fair trade recipes that will make you drool. (I always pin them to our Fair Trade Recipes board on Pinterest.) 

 
CAFE CAMPESINO - Lovely posts. Lovely photos. In June of this year they wrote about the process of making and the evolution of decaf Coffee. Seriously folks. There's always something new to learn about coffee and how it is made!

MOSAIC - (a blog from Ten Thousand Villages) - Now here is a site where you can read about every possible topic that interests you. Yoga. Fashion. Travel. Maker Stories. This site is actually quite overwhelming. For instance, I didn't know about singing bowls. And now I do.

BUNYAAD - Here's a blog you can relate to. Reading lists. Recipes. How to clean wine from a rug. Even tips for choosing the right rug. (and they should know!) This is all info that just about anyone can benefit from.  And I'm drooling over the Pakistani Rice Pudding recipe they've written about.


HUMANKIND SLO - Check out Humankind's blog. It's fun to read their stories about the lines they carry. They also write about topics that are specific to their community. Maybe one day soon, they'll interview me.  In the meantime, I actually wrote a post on this blog where you can learn a bit more about LynAnne Wiest, their store manager.

DR. BRONNER - You'll need an afternoon to read through all of Dr. Bronner's entries. You'll find thoughtful articles addressing current events. And you'll find great tips for how to use their wonderful products. I vote for their Peppermint Pure-Castile Soap. Learn more on their blog.

MAYAMAM WEAVERS - I am always drooling over the photos Mayamam Weavers posts on Instagram. Now I can drool more when checking out their blog.  And since they work in Guatemala (where I've been working for almost forever,) I really adore seeing their images. I see faces and designs that have become part of me. (Figuratively. Not literally.)  I really enjoyed reading their post about the ceramics of San Antonio Palopo. I remember in the 90's I hiked to this community with my niece, who joined me on one of my working trips. We took some time off to hunt for these ceramics, which at that point in time, were not yet widely available. Thank you Mayamam for reminding me of this wonderful day spent with my niece many moons ago.

FAIR TRADE DECOR - Fair Trade Decor, a retailer in Coronado, CA has a blog perfect for their customers. They share stories of their products and producers. Most recently they blogged about Planet vs. Plastic which was the focus for this year's Earth Day. We're right there with them in trying to do things that make our planet a better and healthier place.

EQUAL EXCHANGE - This might be one of the best blogs I've seen from our membership. It's thoroughly covers so many topics. (Yes! Recipes!) It's super easy to navigate. Seriously, I can't pin-point one entry worth missing. Definitely check them all out.

PROJECT HAVE HOPE - You must read these incredibly well written and often heart wrenching stories about life in the Acholi Quarter of Uganda. I found the entries here some of the most informative and enlightening of all the Fair Trade Federation blogs I reviewed. Want to learn more about Karen, the founder of Project Have Hope? I interviewed her and you can read the blog post here.

 

 

 

GANESH HIMAL TRADING -  Learn a bit more about Ganesh Himal and their activities domestically and in Nepal when you check out their blog. They post regularly and I was happy to see their recent post addressing tariffs. It delves into who pays them and who it hurts. Worth the read. Ganesh Himal also operates a non-profit Conscious Connections Foundation which has their very own blog. Learn all the good being done in Nepal from these their two blogs.

ZAMBEEZI - Have you tried Zambeezi's lip balm? It's fabulous. I discovered Zambeezi had a blog when they posted an interview a few years back with LeeAnne McCoy from the fab website Change The World By How You Shop.  You can read our interview with LeeAnne on our blog, posted in February 2019.

GOEX - GOEX blog often goes within sharing information about their business.  We call that transparency. They also write about issues affecting all business, and topics that are educational. If you're up on the news, you know things are quite politically unstable in Haiti. And that's where GOEX works. It's really informative to read their posts about their work there. And when you want a lighter read, they provide some fluff too. Check out their "blue"color snap shot they offered up for winter.

LUCUMA - The Lucuma blog is really fun and collaborative. I like the way they remind us and teach everyone about the fair trade principles we follow. Most recently they focused on FTF's principle #9. Respect cultural, racial and ethnic Identity. Honor people. Read their post to get their take on it while working to better the lives of artisans in Peru.

PASSION LILIE - This company refers to their blog as a 'Designer's Journal.' I like that many of their posts make you think. A recent post of theirs gives some simple directions to spot a fair trade business versus on that use buzz words and is greenwashing. That's a worthwhile post,for sure.

QUILLING CARD - Are you a fan of Quilling Card? Of course you are! Check out their blog to learn more about their most recent beautiful cards.

GLOBAL MAMAS -  Global Mamas has a robust blog and it is well worth visiting. Great photos.  And posts that share more about the Mamas and just about everything else from health and fashion to volunteering in Ghana. Recently they wrote about their new journals. And since blogging is about writing, I decided to highlight that entry here.

AWAMAKI - If you have the time, check out this blog. Awamaki's post from 2024 shares photos of weavings that have wonderful patterns of geometric shapes and all sorts of animals. Artisans weave what they see. And there are animals everywhere in Peru where they work. The colors the artists use all have meaning too. Read the post to get more insight. Every morsel of information allows us to love the art even more. It's a VERY informative post. As you know, This blog post is an update from one I created in 2024. I've updated my comments on many member blogs. I appreciate the post linked above, I had to keep it here. It's so well worth ready. Now I'm adding another from 2025. Learn about medicinal plants from Peru here.

DEAN'S BEANS - Who doesn't love fair trade coffee? And how can you not love that Dean's Beans is a worker owned coop.  Learn more about that on this blog post. It's so cool. As far as hot topics. Let's talk tariffs. Or shall I say - Dean's Beans blogs about tariffs. What's up with coffee tariffs?

HANDSPUN HOPE - If I hadn't checked out Handspun Hope's blog in my efforts to update this list of FTF bloggers, I would never have know they were featured in a recent episode of Good Morning America. Read about it and watch it by following this link. They're making such a huge impact in Rwanda.

MATA TRADERS - Here's the thing. I belong to a virtual book club - sorority sisters I went to college with at the University of Michigan. #goblue (I had to get that in there.) When I saw that Mata Traders had a blog post listing books worth reading, I couldn't have been more pleased. I'm sure I'll find something I'd like to read, and suggest to my group. On their list, Pachinko is the only book I've already read. Are you in a book club? Maybe you have a recommendation? (Hmmmm. Maybe I should recommend some good reads for a future blog post.)

WORLD FINDS - Thank you, World Finds. I didn't realize until now that they written a blog post providing Wildfire relief resources. Heck, I'm from California. If I'd been on top of things, I would have shared that widely.

UPAVIM - Upavim works with artisans in Guatemala. We've been doing the same since 1989. I didn't know that they had sponsored tours to Guatemala. It was fun for me to read their posts about their stops along the way. So many good photos. So many good stories. If you've never been to this beautiful country, reading their blog post might whet your appetite.

CRAZY LOVE AFRICA - Crazy Love Africa posts company "updates" on a regular basis. Fundraisers. Your Ambassador Trips. Chicken Poo Bingo. Yes, you read that right. Learn more about Chicken Poo Bingo here.

TULIA'S - Tulia's has some new and meaty blog posts. It starts out with this post that tells you the history of the Wounaan people of Colombia and Panama in great length.  I can't even begin to paraphrase what you'll learn by taking a few minutes to read these blog posts. Just do it!

LUCIA'S WORLD EMPORIUM - Back to blogging and I love seeing this. Check out what Lucia's is selling in their retail store and the stories and purpose of those products. Their most recent post shouts out for Women's Equality (go Lucia's) with a lead photo of an ornament from Silk Road Bazaar a non-blogging FTF member. I love that this post allows me to shout out to another FTF colleague, one on a personal level I miss so much. SRB was my neighbor at shows for many years, and my neighbor in Los Angeles. Sadly for me, they relocated to the east coast many years ago.

BLOSSOM INSPIRATIONS - Another back to blogging. Blossom Inspirations posted in September 2025, and I hope that's only the beginning of their blogging renaissance.Their latest post addresses a circular economy in motion and how that applies to their own business model. Read the assessment here.

DUNITZ & COMPANY - Yup! That's us. 'Nuff said. After all, this is our blog post you're reading.

I am so pleased I took on the chore of updating this list. As mentioned earlier, I discovered many new member blogs that are active and worthy of note. After reading some of my colleagues recent posts, I want to reiterate that you should definitely pop in from time to time and check out what FTFers have to say. I'm almost certain these blogs are being under-read, under-shared (hint hint) and not acknowledged enough. Without question, there are many posts that took the contributors hours to prepare. I know how much time I spend writing some posts for the Dunitz & Company blog. Our colleague's blogs deserve our eyes.

 

 

I hope you'll get on board and read what our Fair Trade Federation colleagues have to say. The wisdom and information many share on their pages stretch so many boundaries. And while you're at it, if you read something you appreciate, share it, thread it, pin it and post it. Let's all generously share each other's posts. Every share makes a difference.

Please follow us on social and we'll follow back. Promise. Facebook. Instagram. Threads. Pinterest. & thanks for reading. -ND

Our Strategy on Discounts and Sales

The Christmas season is behind us, and it seemed a good time for me to blabber on about sales and discounts. At least sales & discounts and how they pertain to Dunitz & Company. I'm sorry, this is a bit of a ramble.

 

We do a bit of retailing here at Dunitz & Company. But, we are primarily wholesalers and we support ourselves and our community with the sales we make to retail stores. Wholesale and Retail are completely different businesses. And the nature of both have changed so much with the advent of the internet. I thought I'd share some of my personal history with all of this. Bear with me. This might be a bit long-winded to get to the punchline of all of this. Or maybe there is no punchline.

 

 

 

I jumped ship from a corporate job to starting my own wholesale (import) business in 1989. A trip to Guatemala put me in touch with many artisans, some of which I still work with today! I had no idea what I was doing. I lived hand-to-mouth and started exhibiting at wholesale trade shows. In the 1990s the best way to secure new wholesale customers was to exhibit at trade shows. When I first started, there were a few big ones, Los Angeles, New York and Chicago.  Soon the pie was split up, and show producers put up shows in San Francisco, Atlanta and Dallas. From there many more were added Kansas City, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Boston, Fort Lauderdale, Myrtle Beach, Gatlinburg, High Point and on and on and on. Gift Shows. Apparel Shows. Jewelry Shows. I was a trade show warrior, exhibiting at 16 shows every year. I'm tired just thinking about it.

There were lots of brick & mortar boutiques, and with nicely designed products and reasonable prices a business could be built. Both wholesalers and retailers could make a living.

And then the world-wide web happened. Larger companies and then smaller ones were designing and putting up websites. I remember I designed our first wholesale website myself. I can't remember the company I used that had templates that I adapted for Dunitz & Company's needs. Honestly, it looked pretty good. My guess is that was early in the 2000s. 

Jeff Bezos was the first, launching Amazon for book selling in 1995. It was in the early 2000s, that just about every other retailer was building websites to sell online. And following suit, were wholesalers, many who decided that they too were going to retail online. (In hindsight, those wholesaler certainly got a jump on what the world has become.)

As internet activity grew, the same question was asked of me in my trade show booths over and over.  "Do you sell online? If you do, we won't buy from you."  Who had time to retail online? Not me. I reassured my customers I did not sell online.

I remember discussing this with many of my Fair Trade Federation colleagues, several who even had significant wholesale businesses. Several told me they would never retail online. They intended to continue with their wholesale businesses and protect their retailers. (Just about all of these companies, today, retail online.)

As more and more consumers were buying online, brick & mortar stores started closing. Wholesale business was drying up. A majority of wholesalers launched retail websites in the hopes of keeping their heads above water. Retail store buyers could no longer say "we won't buy from you, if you retail online." There'd be no products for them to buy. Just saying.

In 2016, I launched two new websites that work together. One is password protected and for Dunitz & Company's wholesale customers. The other, is a retail site.

Truth be told, I sell little on my retail website. What I've learned is being successful selling online is a completely different business. And the algorithm and parameters change 24/7. You MUST advertise. Google. Facebook. Pinterest. Instagram. TikTok.  Each requires different types of photos or videos. Organic reach is a thing of the past. Sellers hope to sell volume at reduced margins because those ad$ add up. (Quite some time ago, pre-Covid, I took a $course in Facebook advertising and spent some dough. It was a gift to the teacher of that course and Facebook. I was not successful with this endeavor. It taught me to focus on the lane I was already in. I'm certain all I learned back then is obsolete. )

Jump ahead to 2025. I was asked this week how my "retail" Black Friday Cyber Monday sales had gone.  I know that most of my wholesale and retailers colleagues are down this year. The thing is I almost never run sales or provide discounts. Why? I'm still protecting my retail store customers. They are the mainstay of my receipts, and I don't want it to appear as I am competing with them. I don't pay for ads. This means, honestly, our retail website is not typically found.

I know some vendors mark up their products so they can "discount" and offer special sales. I've never done this. I always want to charge fair prices. Dunitz also chooses to retail our designs at prices that are not below what our wholesale customers offer. Our retail prices are fair, but not at the expense of our retail partners. Have I mentioned we have a store locator where we direct customers to brick & mortar stores that sell our fair trade designs? We update our store locator monthly.

And while we're on the topic of discounting, I supposed I should say something more about discounting our wholesale prices.

I almost never offer discounts in my wholesale business unless I'm closing something out. I have the same principles I use for retail pricing. I do my best to offer our designs at a fair price. I do not build in fat so I can run "sales." (You might not know about our close-out group on Facebook? If you don't, please register. There you will find some significantly discounted older and beautiful designs.) 

The only place I offer a wholesale discounts is during FAIRE markets. (A whole other conversation.) This B2B website has gotten very big and powerful. If smaller vendors don't offer discounts during market weeks, their catalogs will not be shown. This is why I offer 5% discount during FAIRE market which FAIRE matches. FAIRE has trained retailers to expect discounts during their planned market weeks and retailers schedule their purchases for these dates. I rationalize the discount as a "trade show fee." The other discount FAIRE has basically required their vendors to offer is free shipping for their direct customers. Direct customers are those retail store customers that used to buy from vendors before FAIRE existed. These retailers chose to buy from their suppliers through FAIRE initially, because FAIRE was paying shipping fees (traditionally not paid by vendors) and providing Net 60 terms.  FAIRE has since developed a program they call "insiders" where retailers purchasing wholesale through their site pay a monthly fee to "get" free shipping. After this program was created, FAIRE said they would no longer pay for shipping on direct customers. FAIRE had trained retailers to now expect free shipping and in this instance, they would no longer pay for shipping. Thankfully we sell jewelry which isn't heavy. I believe you can't take benefits away from people. Dunitz is now absorbing shipping fees for their direct customers on FAIRE. This essentially is a discount. 

I probably could write a book about all of this and more. For now, my rant about discounts is done. I'm sure you feel as if you've read enough. What I can tell you, is whether you purchase wholesale or at retail from us, you make a huge difference. Because of you, Dunitz continues to support our artisan community in Guatemala. -ND