Fairtrade Licensee Goldsmiths

What it means to offer jewellery made from Fairtrade Certified gold:

Most consumers today have at least a basic understanding of what it means for a product to be Fairtrade Certified. You see a sticker slapped on your bunch of bananas at the grocery store or a label on the side of a bag of coffee beans at your favourite coffee shop and you know that you can trust that in came from an ethical background before arriving in that store.

But Fairtrade Certified products extend beyond the foods you consume every day — it also includes gold and Malleable Jewellers is one of only two Fairtrade Certified jewellers in all of Canada. . . What does it mean to be Fairtrade Certified?

Fairtrade is a worldwide movement based on the simple idea that we are all connected and the products that we buy and sell every day are connected to the livelihoods of others. The Fairtrade Mark is recognized and trusted around the world and appears on over 7,000 products in Canada alone. That mark confirms that a product has been certified to offer a better deal to the farmers and workers involved in the production of those goods. In terms of gold, miners often work in hazardous conditions and use dangerous chemicals during the extraction and processing of the metal. Becoming Fairtrade Certified means a mine (usually small-scale artisanal ones) meets all standards related to working conditions, child labour laws, women’s rights, health & safety and environmental protection. . . What makes your Fairtrade Certified jeweller different?

It’s important to understand that having a Fairtrade certification in gold does not exclude any other jewellers from using Fairtrade materials in their products. But without a certification, the jeweller is unable to hallmark the material with the Fairtrade HALLMARK, thus not being able to identify whether the materials are in fact Fairtrade Certified or not. . The difference between other jewellers and a Fairtrade Certified jeweller is that we are more than simply encouraged to use a Fairtrade supply chain, we are required to do so. And, we must be able to prove that our entire supply chain adheres to the Fairtrade principles by uploading every detail of our supply chain to an audit and certification body for Fairtrade Standards by FLOCERT. That same audit and certification body monitors our business operations and the business operations of those in our supply chain (and the supply chains of all other Fairtrade Certified goods as well). If anyone in the chain drops the ball and fails to adhere to standards, they are not only penalized but suspended from continuing to supply to the rest of the chain.

For our clients, this means you can put to rest any concerns you may have about the gold in your jewellery. We assure you it is ethically clean and ethically sound. When you ask “where is the gold from?” we can give you an answer with absolute certainty.

Being accountable to your values is important to us. Because they are our values too. We are in a business that has an opportunity to create change and grow awareness of the impact of large-scale industrial mines. We want to play our part in that change. http://cftn.ca/content/all-glitters-ethical-gold-shines-canada

Feel free to pop any questions you have in the comments so we can create a public dialogue!