Robin Hood Tax

The recent crisis in banking and global finance has plunged the world into recession and massively increased the national depts of countries like the UK and USA. This rather elegant solution puts a tiny tax on international transactions in order to raise billions for International Development and combatting climate change.

Bill says it best. Watch the video, then go here to pledge your support. 

Fairtrade Fortnight

Today is the start of Fairtrade Fortnight, the Fairtrade Foundation's annual celebration of everything Fairtrade. As the world's first Fair Trade jewellers we fully support the Fairtrade Foundation and FLO, their parent organisation, and would like to encourage you all to engage in this year's theme: The Big Swap.

The idea is that you use these two weeks to swap one (or more) of your usual products for their Fairtrade alternative: your usual bananas for Fairtrade bananas, your usual chocolate for Fairtrade chocolate etc.

This is something we really want to encourage you in. Fair Trade is not simply an ethical brand, it is a concept that is routed in the empowerment of producers around the world. Fair Trade means paying a Fair price for your raw materials, preferably putting that directly in the hands of the farmer or miner in question. It is about paying a premium that allows communities to invest in sustainable practices and vital services that we so often take for granted, like education, healthcare and sanitation.

Yes, Fair Trade distorts the Market. But it does that deliberately, because the Market disempowers and dehumanises producers and keeps them in poverty by applying a constant downward pressure on prices. Fair Trade advocates, like CRED, FLO and the Fairtrade Foundation, believe in paying a fair price for what we buy - a price that allows producers to live decent lives, care for their environment and invest in the future of their communities.

At the moment there is no FLO-certified Fairtrade jewellery. But we believe that will change soon. And in the meantime, we believe that our Oro Verde™ gold and platinum is the closest you can get - independently certified and traded under the same founding principles. When fully-certified Fairtrade jewellery arrives, CRED's Oro Verde™ gold jewellery will be the first in line for certification.

EcoChic Competition

Eco Chic magazine are giving away a CRED Hari Spiral bangle as part of their valentines promotion. The competition is open to anyone who can give an inspirational answer as to why they should win. Head to Eco Chic to see the details.

CRED's Hari Collection is a range of silver bangles produced by the Harigni Cooperative in Kathmandu, Nepal. Each of these bangles are designed by CRED and Haigni in partnership, and are handmade in Nepal from CRED's 100% Recycled Sterling Silver.

We're really proud of our partnership with the guys at Harigni. Greg and Christian met Hari Thapa in 2002 in the early days of CRED's journey towards ethical jewellery production and Fair Trade. Ever since then we have used Harigni to produce some of our best-selling ethical silver jewellery.

CRED's Fair Trade focus is first and foremost about people: it's about empowering producers around the world, enabling them to make a real living from their skills and use the profits of their work to invest in their communities. Our work with the Harigni Cooperative exemplifies this: our partnership employs skilled artisans in Kathmandu, and drips down money into the local community. We hope to build more partnerships like this in the future, but for now we will work closely with Harigni and champion their workmanship.

Our head of design Annabel Panes visited Harigni in Nepal over the New Year. We hope to show you the results of her visit in the coming weeks.

Mr February

CRED Founder, provocateur, Fair Trade campaigner and antagonist Greg Valerio is Daisy Green's green god this month. Greg is his usual ebullient and vociferous self in their interview - it's well worth a read.

Great Big Green Wedding Fayre

Back in September, CRED Founder Greg Valerio and our much-loved Boutique Manageress Monica attended the Great Big Green Wedding Fayre in Liverpool.  It was a great event, highlighting some of the many businesses now working hard to enable you to have as green and as ethical a wedding as possible. Greg went down a storm, speaking on the environmental cost of the average wedding band, and CRED was awarded top-level "Forest Green" status in the Green Light Awards for business environmental credentials.

Big Green Wedding have released a brochure of event highlights, including articles on some of the key contributors. There is a great summary of the CRED story in there, along with information on all the other award winners. You can download the brochure here,  and find out more about the Fayre here.