Bulletin
COFFEE CUPPING
INTRO TO TENCEL
TRIP OF A LIFETIME GUIDE
T R A I D C R A F T S H O P. C O . U K
SEPTEMBER 2019
Welcome
Dear Friends,
Big News!
So, we kicked off the autumn winter season with a summer festival! Returning to Greenbelt for the first time in several years, we had a wonderful weekend reaching out to a like-minded audience. Robin and Mary gave fantastic talks, sharing our story, our mission and how Traidcraft (PLC and Exchange) has, more than ever, a vital role to play in fighting trade injustice and protecting
Our AW19 catalogue drops 4th September. We hope you love it as much as we do. If you aren’t already signed up to our catalogue mailing list, you can request your catalogue here:
the planet. It was great to also spend time with some
REQUEST YOUR CATALOGUE >
fair traders, who volunteered to help us during the weekend.
Looking forward to seeing as many of you as possible at either the 40th Birthday celebration service or at one of the roadshows. There is still time to sign-up for our roadshows visit our eventbrite page for all roadshow information or call the Sales Support Team to register.
Happy fair trading, Matt
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A special mention this month has to go to Sue Howland for her impressive Traidcraft-branded cake! Sue made this wonderful cake for the congregational coffee morning at Guildford Cathedral, to celebrate Traidcraft’s 40th anniversary. We hope you saved us a slice, Sue!
Lizy, Jude & Sarah
Kirsty
Jude
Jude
A special shout out this month goes to Traidcraft PLC’s Jude Allen and Kirsty Young, who are running the Great North Run on Sunday 8th September, to raise funds for our sister charity, Traidcraft Exchange.
the famous run which snakes from Newcastle to South Shields.
The Great North Run is the largest half marathon in the world, with almost 60,000 runners taking part in
If you’d like to know more about Kirsty and Jude’s reasons for running and training programmes updates, see their JustGiving pages. You can also use these links to sponsor them, too!
SPONSOR KIRSTY >
SPONSOR JUDE >
Zero Carbon Harrogate Zero Carbon Harrogate brings together a group of professionals, business owners, academics, parents and community leaders from the Harrogate District in order to support the development of a low carbon sustainable economy, which will improve the quality of life for Harrogate District residents, now and for years to come. On Tuesday 10th September, our Mission and Transparency Lead, Robin Roth, will holding a talk about how fair trade must adapt to the challenges of advancing climate change and biodiversity loss, particularly the degradation of soil from over use of chemicals. For more information about his free talk, see here: https://www.zerocarbonharrogate.org.uk/fair-trade-future
Update from the Sales Support Team We’d like to thank you all for your patience during our system upgrade. We hope that all minor problems have now been ironed out and that your invoices are now arriving as expected. We would also like to mention due to the recent system upgrade, we are no longer able to amend orders once they’re placed, either on the website or over the telephone. As always, if you have any issues or questions, please give us a call on 0191 491 0855. 3
Coffee Cupping Lizy and Kirsty coffee cupping at Cafédirect
This month, Traidcraft’s Lizy and Kirsty visited Cafédirect in London Fields at their roastery, designed especially to roast highgrade coffees in small batches. We chatted all things coffee; from transparency, to the coffee price crisis. Of course, a trip to Cafédirect wouldn’t be complete without a professional coffee cupping (the process that is undertaken all around the world to ensure coffee is evaluated in the same way). Lizy and Kirsty put their tasting skills to the test and soon identified the different tasting notes you get from different origins and the different levels of roast a coffee can go through.
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New in for AW19
Feather Print Grey Scarf 49016 £7.99
Leather & Jute Rug 54150 £29.95
Colourful Trinket Pots 58980 £35.70
Wooden Incence Gift Set 53866 £9.95
Elephant Ring Holder 53612 £6.96
Copper Geo Lantern Planter 54376 £29.95
Elephant Wooden Calendar 54136 £5.95
Large Glass Tealight Border Design 54598 £24.95
Painted Round Pot 54408 £8.95
Classic Treasures Leaf Notebooks in Display Box - Set of 6 29334 £16.50
Elephant Zipped Coin Purse 49504 £6.95
Elephant Paperweight 60944 £3.95 5
Product Update from Lizy Oaty Biscuits Instant Coffee - out of stock Traidcraft used to buy instant coffee in huge quantities. Due to the production process, there is no way around reducing the quantities and this stock could last us almost two years. The minimum order quantities of working this way are very high and very expensive for a company that is recovering from almost having to cease trading.
We have done our last production of cheese oaty biscuits, and as we have run out of packaging, we have taken the decision to not reprint this product, as sadly we just don’t sell enough. We are continuing with the black pepper and poppy seed oaty biscuits while we still have packaging, but next year these will also be delisted when the packaging has been used up.
We hoped to still buy the regular instant coffee, however, our cash reserves were low from paying out redundancies and into the pension fund, meaning commercially we had to make the tough decision to make at the start of 2019 to not place the order of regular instant coffee. We knew we had stock of the 450g tub of instant regular coffee to last until August 2019 and other lines would last us until 2020 and 2021. We are still researching a different way of buying instant coffee and at this time we cannot say when it may be back in stock. We still have the 100g regular instant coffee and both decaf sizes. We also sell Cafédirect instant coffee, so we encourage you to buy this while Traidcraft’s 450g option is not available.
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GEOBAKES We have run out of packaging of the GEOBAKES display box and will be updating the artwork in the coming months, so advanced apologies for when these go out of stock.
Coffee Bundle ready for the Big Brew Harvest To support Traidcraft Exchange and those hosting their own Big Brew event, we have created a coffee morning bundle containing some essentials to kick any event off. The set includes our Great Taste Award winning teas, scrumptious cookies and some sweet treats to keep you going. The set was designed to fit into one of our packing boxes so its super easy for us to get to you and you benefit from some extra discount by buying these products as a set. Coffee Morning Bundle 25912 ÂŁ61
Clean and Fair After rigorous testing and re-formulating, the palm soap base for our liquid cleaning range was created, but unfortunately cannot be made into our Clean and Fair products. To expand, last year a batch of the palm oil base failed and did not react, meaning we could then not mix the palm oil base with the other ingredients to create the finished cleaning products. Our proposed solution was to try a different type of palm oil from Ecuador; reviewing this oil and specifications with manufacturers, we had high hopes that it would work, and we conducted a small laboratory test on the oil. However, this was not conclusive; we had to then do a production size trial, so purchased 1,000kg of palm oil. The trial took around three days, longer than it should to create the base (this would increase the cost of making the base material).
approved for commercial use, we could then not send this oil in to Bio-D who make the finished products to do further testing. Back when we were consolidating our range at the end of 2018, the whole team were behind the fight to try and keep Clean and Fair products going. We have tried, we invested in this trial but unfortunately this is the position we are in. We will continue to work with Bio-D and hope to introduce products from their range that are similar to our Clean and Fair range. We will still be purchasing the Fair Trade, Organic palm oil to use in our cookies. Please note that this does not affect our hard soaps as this is a different formula.
The quality of the finished palm oil base was not deemed of a high enough quality to be
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AW19 Stock Availability Grocery Craft
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Product
Estimated Due Date
Tree of Life Box
Mid Sept
Penguin Decoration
Mid Sept 
Gold Star Lantern
Waiting info
Lavender Incense set
End Sept
Ocean Incense set
End Sept
Cotton pom pom throw
End Sept
Sari patchwork quilt
Mid Sept
Fabric zip purse
Mid Sept
Product
Estimated Due Date
Pear Drops
End of September (Waiting for the new compostable packaging to be printed).
Chocolate Coated Ginger
October (The ginger is being shipped at the end of August from the cooperative in China). 
Afternoon Tea Hamper
Mid September (Waiting for the double choc cookies to arrive).
Festive Hamper
October (Waiting for the large baskets to arrive).
Chocolate Cookies 180g
Mid-September (Finally, the chocolate chunks are being picked up from Belgium on the 26th August and bought to the UK to make the Cookies).
Granola (in new packaging)
End of September
Tropical Wholefoods Rice
End of September
Kitchen Roll (in new packaging)
End of October (We have one lorry load of Together Green packaging and then we are moving onto the Traidcraft branded packaging).
Traidcraft at
A few pictures taken at Greenbelt Festival 23-26th August 2019. A big thank you to those who volunteered to help, pictured below.
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Zaytoun Medjoul Dates F R O M PA L E S T I N E
Zaytoun sources fairly traded Medjoul dates from Palestinian palm groves in the Jordan Valley. Known as the ‘King of Dates’ because of their plump flesh and rich caramel flavour, they make a delicious ethical gift for friends and family. The growth of the Medjoul date sector over the last decade has become a vital source of income for Palestinian 10
farmers in the Jordan Valley, as they strive to grow trade opportunities in order to retain their own land, against the daily struggles of living under military occupation and the threat of expanding Israeli settlements. Israeli settlement dates are often cheaper because they are grown predominantly on illegal settlements that usually operate on a mass scale of production, whereas Palestinian farmers don’t receive state subsidies and face restrictions on movement, resources and access to water.
Ruba Halaiqa, loves her work as a Quality Manager for a major Medjoul date producer in the Jordan Valley; a job she’s held since gaining her university degree in biology and medical technology. It’s a busy role, and Ruba is tasked with overseeing all the company’s quality assurance procedures to ensure that dates supplied to Zaytoun are consistently of the highest quality. Since she started working at Nakheel Palestine in 2011, she’s seen the company’s international sales grow, bringing opportunities to create more value in their supply chain and offering employment to more farming families in the Jordan Valley. These new job opportunities in a safe and healthy environment are a welcome alternative to working in illegal Israeli settlements, which was often the only employment option available in the Jordan Valley. Work on settlements is often on casual contracts with no job security. In contrast, the jobs created by the growth in local date production offer long-term prospects, as well as engaging more women in rural areas and attracting investment that ripples out to wider economic growth.
“Education is key to enable our international customers to understand what makes our dates so special, and the complex process involved in taking them from tree to plate.” - Ruba Halaiqa She was delighted when the Medjoul dates she meticulously helps produce won a UK Great Taste Award in 2018, a result of the hard work she and her team puts in to closely monitor the quality of the dates at every stage of their journey from the farm.
“The award is a recognition of our efforts and we are thankful to receive it”.
This is important to those living in a region that is sorely affected by lack of access to water for irrigation due to the Israeli occupation, as well as severe restrictions on the movement of people and goods which make it difficult to get products to local markets. These limitations create extra costs for marketing and exporting produce, so growth is essential for a company like Nakheel and the producers in its supply chain. Ruba values the support of Zaytoun’s customers year on year, and their interest in learning about the obstacles that growers need to overcome in order to get the dates to market. 11
meet the people tours
Your Guide to a Trip of a Lifetime
As the summer holidays draw to a close, if you’re looking ahead for a fulfilling journey to inspire and invigorate then how about meeting producers on a trip of a lifetime? Here’s our quick guide to the best trips to book now.
An Inspiring Start to 2020
Southern India
In the New Year, we look to Asia for our inspiration. It’s the perfect time to make a visit to farmers in Southern India and Sri Lanka, and share a cup of chai overlooking hills of tea and coffee bushes. Or, you could begin your year discovering the diverse and stunning colours and patterns of traditional fabrics as we learn the skills of weaving, dyeing, printing, and embroidery in Western India.
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Plan for Spring and Summer As the weather warms, we head to the Southern Hemisphere where temperatures in Chile are perfect for a refreshing glass of wine on the vineyard on our journey through stunning landscapes and cultural capitals.
South Africa Late 2019 Availability
Chile
Planning ahead’s not for everyone, though – there’s still time to join a guaranteed departure this year. Explore the shores of South Africa, and between spotting penguins and flamingos we’ll discover sea salt harvesting and organic farming. Or, join us for a journey through Northern India meeting craft workers and skilled artisans who, with the help of Traidcraft Exchange, are enjoying more benefits from their hard work.
Malawi
Eswatini
It’s also the perfect time of year to mix incredible wildlife sightings with stories of fair trade in Malawi and Eswatini - join us in the land of the Swazis for crafts galore, or head for coffee, rice, and peanut farming and a dip in the magical Lake Malawi.
For our full programme of tours and detailed itineraries and travel information, visit www.meetthepeopletours.co.uk or contact Hannah and Lizzie on 0191 2651110 or by email to info@skedaddle.com
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A bit about us...
As Traidcraft’s sister charity, it goes without saying that everything we do at Traidcraft Exchange is to transform world trade for the better. Both company and charity were formed to drastically improve the lives of people who are vulnerable in trade, and protect the planet for generations to come. But while our mission is the same, we work in different ways.
‘formed to drastically improve lives’
If you’d like to do the iconic Great North Run in 2020, watch out for our discounted entries – coming soon in September!
You already knew that Traidcraft bought directly and indirectly from producer groups in developing countries, guaranteeing them fair wages and secure trading relationships based on respect, transparency, and trust. Traidcraft Exchange, on the other hand, supports some of the world’s most vulnerable farmers, workers and artisans to build up the skills they need to earn a better, more sustainable living, and advocate for their rights in the corridors of power. In other words, we play different but complimentary roles in the global fight for fairer trade.
‘In other words, we play different but complimentary roles in the global fight for fairer trade.’ 14
Have you seen our website? www.traidcraftexchange.org Have a look around and learn all about our life-changing work with some of the world’s most vulnerable farmers, workers and artisans.
“A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step” - Lao Tzu
Big change, the kind that transforms lives, happens when many people take many small steps together. This summer, Traidcraft Exchange launched Small Steps – a community of generous people like you, each willing to give a small sum each month to support vulnerable farmers, workers and artisans on their journey to a better life. We’ve been thrilled at the positive response so far – the Small Steps community is growing by the day! We’re looking forward to keeping Small Steps members up to date on what their regular donations mean for deserving, hardworking families around the world.
Want to join us on our journey to a fairer world? Sign up to Small Steps today at www.traidcraftexchange.org/ small-steps or call our friendly team on 0191 497 6445
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Brand-new event for autumn! This year, we’re delighted to introduce a second Big Brew event into the calendar – our brand-new Big Brew - Harvest! This autumn, why not get together with your friends, family and community to have fun and fundraise for hardworking farmers and workers around the world? Whether you’re starting an event from scratch or already have one planned, our Big Brew - Harvest pack is jam-packed with fun activities to inspire you!
Order your free fundraising pack today at www.traidcraftexchange.org/bigbrewharvest 16
Coffee Morning Bundle 25912 WAS £68 OFFER £61 Traidcraft are offering a special Big Brew Bundle with all the delicious fairly traded tea, coffee, and treats you need for your event! Order online at www.traidcraftshop.co.uk/coffeemorning-bundle or over the phone on 0191 491 0855.
Have you added your voice? Last month, we told you about the government’s plans to roll out the red carpet for big business in trade deals after Brexit – with courts that give them powers to sue poor countries for millions. Known as ISDS, these courts allow multinational companies to sue countries for millions if they take measures that threaten company profits from stamping out tax avoidance, to protecting the environment and safeguarding the rights of indigenous people. The good news is that, together, we can put an end to this unfair system. More than 40,000 people have signed the petition to the government and
as more people find out about ISDS, our voice for change is growing. But to get this issue on the government’s agenda, we need many more to join us. So if you haven’t already done it, please sign the petition and share it with friends and family! You can also get your local community involved – simply order our free postcards and leaflets and hand out in your shop, church and in your community. To find out more about the campaign, please visit: www.traidcraftexchange.org/red-carpet-courts
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An Introduction to Tencel T H E E C O - F R I E N D LY F A B R I C
Thought are a small clothing business who are making big changes in the fashion world. Their collections are investments for your wardrobe, which will last years and years, rather than cheap pieces of fast fashion. Their prints are commissioned and created exclusively for them, so you can rest assured that you won’t meet your match every day on the street! Thought’s ‘force of nature fabrics’ are a huge part of what makes them unique; including sustainable fabrics such as Organic Cotton, Bamboo and Tencel. Today, we’re shining our spotlight on the latter, and finding out everything we need to know about Tencel from Sadia, Thought’s Technical and Sustainability Coordinator.
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Why is Tencel Good?
There are many reasons to love Tencel; firstly, it’s absorbent, smooth, cool and silky soft with a beautiful drape and sophisticated handle. It’s also simple to launder, strong when wet, and has been developed to be wrinkle resistant, much more than its cotton counterparts, making it the ideal fabric to pop into your suitcase when travelling. Not only is Tencel a great fabric to wear, it’s also an environmentally friendly option;
in fact, its manufacturing process has earned it the highly prestigious European Union’s ‘European Award for the Environment’. Due to its minimal impact on the environment, Tencel is increasingly the fabric of choice for a conscious shopper. Cleverly made from sustainably sourced wood, Tencel is a third generation, cellulosic fibre, which may sound complicated, but simply means that it’s plant-based and always being improved.
How is Tencel Made?
solution before being washed in demineralised water.
If you like the sound of Thought’s Tencel range and Once completely dry, the fibres would like to have a look in are lubricated and carded (or more detail at their eye-catching combed) to remove any tangles, before being compressed using a wardrobe essentials, see our Thought clothing collection. crimper to add bulk and texture. The raw material for Tencel is The fibres are then ready to be sourced from trees grown in dyed, spun and woven to make THOUGHT AW19 > sustainable plantations and beautiful, sustainable garments, on land that is unsuitable for which will last you season upon agricultural cultivation. Once it season. has been harvested, the wood If you found this article The entire manufacturing is processed into chips, pulped interesting, you may like to process to produce Tencel takes and dried into sheets ready for read our Q&A with Thought cojust two hours. The process processing. founder, Rachel Kelly, where we is practically a ‘closed loop’ discussed all things slow, ethical The sheets are then broken up system, with approximately fashion and found out a little bit and dissolved in a non-toxic amine 98% of the amine oxide solvent more about this forward-thinking oxide solution, turning into a clear, recaptured and recycled back and innovative brand. viscous liquid. The long Tencel through the process, adding to fibres are created by forcing this the sustainability of the fabric. liquid through spinnerets dotted RACHEL KELLY Q&A > All of which is great news for with tiny holes. These are then the environment, now and for set in a bath of dilute amine oxide future generations. You already know that Tencel is made from trees, but how is it transformed from a piece of nature into your favourite item in your wardrobe?
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Traidcraft ’s AGM, 40th Birthday Celebrations and Roadshows HAVE YOU SIGNED UP YE T?
A huge thank you to those of you who have signed up so far, numbers are looking good so please register your attendance to avoid disappointment!
40th Birthday Celebrations On the 14th of September we will be holding a celebration service at St. Nicholas Cathedral, Newcastle. The event will be preceded by our AGM. All are welcome to both events. However, only shareholders will be eligible to vote and will be given priority for public questions. Space in the cathedral is limited, so it is vital you
Roadshows If you’d like to have a look at our new AW19 range, network with other Fairtraders, listen to our talks and grab a brew with our team, why not come along to your nearest roadshow? See details below for a roadshow near you. See you there! SIGN UP >
register your attendance. To register for your Eventbrite ticket, follow this link: GET YOUR TICKET >
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1. Cardiff: Park End Church, Cardiff, CF23 6EG - 3rd Sept
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2. Bath: St. Saviours Church, St. Saviours Road, Bath, BA1 6QG - 4th Sept 3. Bromley: Bromley Baptist Park Road, Bromley, Kent, BR1 3HJ - 5th Sept
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4. Reading: RISC, 35/29 London Street, Reading, RG1 4PS - 6th Sept 5. Manchester: Chorlton Central URC/Baptist, Barlow Moor Road, M21 8BF - 11th Sept
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6. Leeds: St Edmund’s, Roundhay Park Rd, Leeds LS8 1JN - 13th Sept
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7. Newcastle: St. Nicholas Cathedral. St. Nicholas Square, NE1 1PF - 14th Sept 8. Glasgow: St. Silas Church. 69 Park Rd, Glasgow G4 9JE - 17th Sept 9. Perth: St. Matthew’s Church, 6 Moncreiffe Terrace, Perth PH1 5LQ - 19th Sept
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10. Nottingham: St Helen’s Church, Stapleford, Frederick Road, Stapleford, NG9 8FN - 24 Sept th
11. Birmingham: Carrs Lane Church Centre, Carrs Lane, Birmingham, B4 7SS - 25th Sept 12. London: Our Lady and Saint Joseph Church, Waltham Cross, EN8 7XJ - 26th Sept 13. Cambridge: Cambridge URC, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, CB2 1QY - 27th Sept 20
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To celebrate four decades of pioneering fair trade, we’ve brought out an exciting, ecofriendly, future-proof range of products! Grab yours quick. Once they’re gone, they’re gone!
Limited Edition
Traidcraft 40th Anniversary T-Shirt 56400 Small | 56404 Medium 56444 Large | 56502 XL £17.95
Traidcraft 40th Anniversary Apron 56158 £17.95
Traidcraft 40th Anniversary E Coffee Cup
Traidcraft 40th Anniversary Tea Towel - Natural
Traidcraft 40th Anniversary Tote - Natural
56626 £12
56522 £6.95
56242 £9.95
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Offers Not to be Missed 20%
10%
2nd - 30th September
2nd - 30th September
OFF
Cape Treasures Sundried Fig Infused Balsamic Reduction 67058 (250ml) WAS £6.25 OFFER £5
Ma’s Happy Life Kitchen Organic & Fairtrade Coconut Milk 25890 (400ml) WAS £1.95 OFFER £1.75 49682 (12 x 400ml) WAS £21 OFFER £18.90
25%
25%
4th Sep - 20th Dec
4th Sep - 20th Dec
OFF
Cafédirect Kilimanjaro Ground Coffee (227g) 58752 (227g) WAS £4.25 OFFER £3.19 45266 (6 x 227g) WAS £22.92 OFFER £17.19 22
OFF
OFF
Organic
Cafédirect Organic Machu Picchu Ground Coffee (227g) 50536 (227g) WAS £4.25 OFFER £3.19 51040 (6 x 227g) WAS £22.92 OFFER £17.19
20% OFF
4th Sep - 30th Oct
Divine Dark Chocolate with Ginger & Orange 32900 (90g) 30018 (15 x 90g) Divine Dark Chocolate with Pink Himalayan Salt 43724 (90g) 41128 (15 x 90g) Divine Dark Chocolate with Mint 38574 (90g) 38350 (15 x 90g) Divine Milk Chocolate with Toffee & Sea Salt 35962 (90g)34274 (15 x 90g) Divine Dark Chocolate with Raspberries 49630 (90g) 43768 (15 x 90g) Divine Dark Chocolate with Lemon & Juniper 53964 (90g) 53394 (15 x 90g) Divine Milk Chocolate with Orange 60588 (90g) 59728 (15 x 90g)
Single bars: WAS £2.39 OFFER £1.91 Display boxes: WAS £32.25 OFFER £25.80
Divine Milk Chocolate Gingerbread Crisp 46400 (90g) 48162 (15 x 90g) Divine Dark Chocolate with Clementine Ltd Edition 60674 (90g) 60848 (15 x 90g)
20% OFF
4th Sep - 30th Oct Divine Dark Chocolate Mint Thins 46198 (200g) WAS £4 OFFER £3.20 34668 (12 x 200g) WAS £43.20 OFFER £34.56
Divine Dark Chocolate Salted Caramel Thins 32948 (200g) WAS £4 OFFER £3.20 28560 (12 x 200g) WAS £43.20 OFFER £34.56 Divine Dark Chocolate Ginger Thins 61086 (200g) WAS £4 OFFER £3.20 40658 (12 x 200g) WAS £43.20 OFFER £34.56 23
Autumn / Winter ‘1 9
TRAIDCRAFT PRODUCT RANGE Our entire range has been chosen carefully: always fair, but also sustainable and organic wherever possible. We need people to consume more thoughtfully and more consciously. If you are considering buying less and buying better, then we hope that this catalogue will be a good place to start! Welcome to Traidcraft!
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Get to know us better... 24
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