For immediate release
 
Ask any Kiwi about Trade Aid and they will likely tell you that their mother, grandmother, friend or cousin is (or has been) a volunteer at Trade Aid. With almost a thousand volunteers across the country in 2008, the total number of Kiwis involved in Trade Aid over the past 35 years will be up in the tens of thousands.
 
Ask any kiwi where Trade Aid began and they will be surprised to hear that it’s a genuine kiwi entrepreneurial business. Beginning in 1973 with one shop in Christchurch, Trade Aid now has 32 shops throughout the country selling items from more than 75 trading partners across the developing world.
 
Recent figures show Trade Aid’s own retail sales to be nudging the $11 million mark for the 2007/2008 year, and New Zealand is now the fastest growing market for fair trade items in the world.
 
It all began with a telegram “Proceed to India” – this was the message sent to Vi and Richard Cottrell after answering an advertisement in The Press for an adviser to a resettlement scheme for Tibetan refugees in northern India. It was 1969 and on these instructions they left Christchurch and moved into a rambling flat in Delhi. While Richard liaised with European funding organisations and the Indian Government on behalf of the fledgling Tibetan enterprises set up to create an income for the refugees, Vi was given the job of finding foreign buyers for the fine, handcrafted woollen carpets. On returning to New Zealand later that year, the Cottrells imported $1000 worth of carpets and exhibited them in  a Christchurch Gallery. Within fifteen minutes of opening, all carpets were sold.
 
A business was born. “A business that is truly unique here in New Zealand and around the world,” says Trade Aid Importers General Manager Geoff White. “Keeping the relationship with our trading partners at the heart of our decision making has enabled Trade Aid to remain true to its purpose while adapting to change over the 35 years. It is a business model quite unlike any other, but one that is proving its success both in its development goals and its retail sales”.

Julia Capon, involved in communications at Trade Aid Importers, says Trade Aid sees its 35th anniversary as an opportunity to acknowledge the difference New Zealand shoppers have made to thousands of craftspeople living in remote villages and city slums around the world. “Our customers feel that buying from us is indeed making a difference and this is important in a world where connections with our food and craft purchases are becoming more and more remote.”
 

FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO ORGANISE A PHOTO OPPORTUNITY PLEASE CONTACT JULIA CAPON ON 03 385 3535 ext 231 OR julia.capon@tradeaid.org.nz