About Us

We are a fair trade shop

Our aim is to reduce poverty in poor areas of the world through trading more fairly.

Our Mission is to source and sell sustainable & fairly traded goods from around the world using an ethical and transparent framework, promoting equality and educating consumers along the way.

By shopping here you are helping to make the world a fairer place.

Meet the Team

Rachel Farey
Business Manager
Contact Rachel
Lorna Kelly
Manager
Contact Lorna
Anita Dumitra
Sales Manager
Contact Anita
Chris Horton
Finance
Contact Chris

Also on the team: Moira Pattinson, Kavita Lal, Sue Muir & Claire Hutchins; plus our amazing team of volunteers.

Volunteering at One World Shop

We are always keen to work with volunteers in our vibrant Edinburgh shop and provide a supportive & friendly environment to people with a wide range of age groups and skills.

If you are interested in fair trade and trade justice issues, or just want to get out and do some voluntary work we would love to hear from you.

The History of One World Shop

Inside the Shop

The One World Shop was set up by George Shand, a Traidcraft representative who had a passionate belief in trade justice and started out as a stall selling fairly traded products at St John’s Church. The shop became a limited company with charitable status in 1984 and the first Fair Trade certified product finally hit the shelves in 1994.

Since then we have opened (and unfortunately closed) two shops in Glasgow and in 2015 we moved to a new location at the City of Edinburgh Methodist Church while St John’s Church had a new extension built and is refurbished. In October 2017, we moved back to St John’s Church. We have settled into our new location at the Lothian Road end of the lower terrace, now called the Cornerstone Centre at St John’s.

The One World Shop played a leading role in helping both Edinburgh and Glasgow become Fairtrade Cities in 2004 and 2006 respectively and in 2008, we received the Edinburgh Fairtrade City Long Standing Achievement Award. Our Business Manager, Rachel Farey, is also an award winner and won the Outstanding Achievement Award at the Scottish Fair Trade Forum Awards in 2015.

Today we provide so much more than just a shop. While we continue to expand the fantastic range of Fair Trade products we stock in the shop we also provide services for schools, community groups and businesses. We nurture volunteers and advocate for and provide education about Fair Trade.

Management Committee

We are run by a Management Committee that meets monthly, we occasionally are looking for new people to join. If this is something that interests you, please contact Rachel Farey.

Membership

Members pay an annual fee to help provide support for the shop. All of our members are invited to join us for our AGM, and in which are able to vote on matters discussed during the meeting.

Membership costs £12 for a single person to join, but we have tiered fees ranging from Unwaged to Organisation Membership. To find out more about becoming a member of One World Shop, please contact the office.

Our Annual Report for 2021-22 is now available to download. Click the image to download the pdf from Google Drive.
For alternative formats, please contact the office.

Ethical Buying Policy

The One World Shop works to alleviate poverty in developing countries through the sale of fairly traded goods bought from marginalised producer groups. Products are bought either directly from producer groups or from importers who are in turn buying according to recognised fair trade principles.

Producers may have much or little experience in exporting and One World Shop can provide a small area for market testing products from new producers. In all cases purchases must have a wider, community benefit to the producer groups and production must involve sound social and environmental practices.

We have spent time with many of our producers all over the world and have built great relationships over the 30+ years we have been trading. Some of our producers also get the opportunity to visit the UK usually during Fairtrade Fortnight, and tour round the country visiting groups and talking about their experiences. It’s really wonderful to hear from the true stories of our products straight from the people who are making them.

Our product range also includes UK based products with a sustainable, planet friendly purpose such as body products, books and t-shirts.

We always strive to ensure our products and producers are audited to the highest standards, and we trust the Fairtrade Mark, BAFTS and WFTO commitment to ensuring that is carried out.

While a lot of our products are only “ethically produced” this means that they are bought from producers and importers who have demonstrated, in our judgement, that they have sound social and environmental policies in keeping with WFTO and BAFTS criteria but are either too new or too small to belong to WFTO or BAFTS.

Our supplementary range will generally have:

  • A specific environmental benefit,
  • An educational role promoting cultural awareness and poverty alleviation, or
  • A specific supportive role to the Fair Trade products (e.g. cushion fillers, candles).

We’re very happy to discuss the background of any of our products, please get in touch if you’d like to know more.

The WFTO’s Ten Principles of Fair Trade

We are a BAFTS member

As a UK network member of WFTO, BAFTS follow their definition of a fair trade shop which is that the shop stocks at least 60% of their goods from fair trade sources. The other main criterion is adherence to the Ten Principles of Fair Trade with continuous improvement.