Traidcraft was awarded the Queen's Award for Enterprise: Sustainable Development 2006, one only seven companies to achieve this honour.

How did it all begin?  I have been rereading what Richard Adams wrote for Traidcraft's 21^st Birthday about how it was conceived.  Richard Adams, a sociologist, Michael Schluter, an agricultural economist and Tim McClure, a clergyman were college friends and radical Christians.  They started by running a greengrocer's shop in northwest London, importing vegetables from small farmers in developing countries.  Jute macramé was introduced from the Ganges delta after a meeting with a Baptist missionary from Bangladesh.  With the help of Tear Fund, Tearcraft was formed.  Five years later in 1997, Traidcraft was born and moved to Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, an area of high unemployment where it has been able to give jobs to hundreds of people.  It is the result of Christian faith that Traidcraft's sales now exceed £16 million a year, providing vital income for producers in over 30 countries.

One fifth of the world's population still lives on less than 60 or 70p a day.  Traidcraft's mission is to fight poverty in the developing world through trade.  As a Christian organisation, it is committed to work with people of all faiths and none, in our common fight against poverty.  Traidcraft has two parts: Traidcraft plc, for whom I sell fair-traded products, and Traidcraft Exchange, the charity side.

Traidcraft's vision:  "A world free from the scandal of poverty, where trade is just and people and communities can flourish".