The World Fair Trade Organization-Europe (WFTO-Europe) is the European branch of the World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO), the worldwide network of Fair Trade enterprises.

Currently WFTO-Europe is formed by 110 members: among them 85 Fair Trade enterprises, 19 Fair Trade Networks (FTN) and 5 Fair Trade Support Organizations (FTSO), along with 2 associated organisations in 18 different European countries.

Together with the other regional WFTO branches in Latin America, Asia and Africa, we gather a global network of innovators practising fairer and more sustainable business models. Our mission is to advocate for more equity in trade and economic relationships and to promote Fair Trade in Europe through the implementation of a credible and sustainable Fair Trade system.

WFTO-Europe aims at building a world where Fair Trade and trade justice are the keystones to mend the problems of the current economic model. Nowadays companies make every decision based on the pursuit of growing profit, but Fair Trade enterprises demonstrate that an alternative is possible, balancing the social mission of prioritising the interests of workers, farmers, artisans and communities with high environmental standards and efforts to reduce businesses' impact on the climate, while achieving commercial viability.

https://wfto-europe.org/

Why CREATE

The WFTO Guarantee System places its focus on the business and how it operates and thus is a rather unique approach that also covers fashion and apparel, with members like People Tree, Mayamiko, Africulture, Mifuko and CooperativAlice. In the last few years, WFTO has engaged in a partnership with Chloé to include Fair Trade fashion items from WFTO members in their range. On the side of WFTO-Europe, we have long been partnering with Fashion Revolution, especially in our most recent EC DEAR project, “Trade Fair, Live Fair”, on highlighting and addressing the massive social and environmental issues in the fashion, textiles, garments and apparel industry through the Principles of Fair Trade.

WFTO-Europe was part of the core group driving the initiatives behind the ECDPM study on EU policy recommendations for a strategy towards sustainable fashion and textiles in Europe (“Sewing together the pieces”) as well as the Civil Society Shadow Strategy on Textiles, Garments, Leather and Footwear. The CREATE project is thus a natural extension of our work on fashion, especially with demonstrating the alternative to unsustainable fashion. Not only do we call out the severe issues in mainstream fashion supply chains, thanks to the Fair Trade practices of our members we also work tirelessly to highlight how fashion can be done fairly while remaining viable even in today’s market.

In the CREATE project, WFTO-Europe’s role is to share our expertise in alternative business models: how they can help make businesses viable while prioritising the interest of workers and communities and improving the environmental impact. Additionally, we lead the dissemination of project activities and results, to make sure the project reaches a broad European and, in time, Global audience.

Our team

Mikkel Kofod Nørgård

Mikkel Kofod Nørgård is from Denmark and works in Brussels as the regional coordinator of WFTO’s regional branch for Europe. He holds a Master’s in International Studies from University of Aarhus in Denmark. Studying the overall areas of international relations, Asia, and international political economy, he always focused particularly on inequality on both national and international level. His outlook for the work of WFTO-Europe is based on the understanding that poverty and the stark gap in state of development between many countries are structural problems born from a highly flawed world economy and trade system.

Mikkel is responsible for daily management of the European office of the WFTO, representing around 110 members, most of which are social enterprises fully practicing Fair Trade. He works to promote the efforts and inspiring practices of them as businesses of the new economy – this is through awareness-raising, advocacy work and creating educational material to sensitise what Fair Trade means in practice on the business level and why it’s important for an economy that is both socially and environmentally sustainable.

In recent years, WFTO-Europe, in partnership with the global headquarters of the WFTO, has focused on the fashion and garments sector. Considering the massive human rights and environmental issues the Fair Trade case is obvious, but importantly, many WFTO-Europe members work in this field and are live examples of the alternative(s) needed to making this industry sustainable in both an environmental and a social sense of the word. The CREATE project is thus also a deep personal interest of Mikkel, since it gives the opportunity to further spread the good practices that make a difference in ensuring human rights and avoiding harm to nature when operating a fashion business. At the same time, it is the project combines inclusion of different marginalised or vulnerable groups and the empowerment of women – enabling people with lack of opportunity to raise their voice and take their future in their own hands is an important personal goal that drives Mikkel’s work and general involvement in Fair Trade and this project.

 

Nicla Elena Festa

Nicla is from Italy and worked with WFTO-Europe since February 2022 as responsible communication and managing WFTO-Europe’s involvement in the CREATE project. She has mainly been responsible for the development and implementation of internal and external communication of WFTO-Europe Office. She holds a Master’s Degree in law from the University of Trento with a final dissertation concerning labour standards in international trade and investment. In this she also presented the Fair Trade Movement and the WFTO. She has further experience from a semester of studies at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

Nicla is passionate about Fair Trade and participates in the FTAO Young Fair Trade Advocates Program. Her efforts are centred around the need to promote alternative business models more focused on people and their rights rather than profit. With her background in law, she has also been the key contributor to public consultations of the EU on relevant files, like the Corporate Sustainable Due Diligence Directive that was proposed by the EC earlier this year, as well as advocacy work related to the WFTO’s work and position on human rights and environmental issues in the fashion and textiles industries.

 

Kamila Michowska

Kamila is from Poznan, Poland and currently studies International Economic Relations at Poznan University of Economics. She has been working as an intern with WFTO-Europe since finishing a semester in Brussels in Sustainable Management. Her main responsibilities are market surveys and research for our members and partners, as well as contributing to fundraising and the management of certain projects.

Kamila has co-authored WFTO-Europe’s contributions for the Educator’s Handbook, building on her expertise and knowledge in modern business practices that deliver positive social and environmental impact. Her scientific fields of interests are circular economy, doughnut economy, and sustainable production and consumption, and these have further contributed to the part concerning business models, marketing and bringing to market of the Handbook. Kamila’s work is driven by the understanding that it is crucial to create a modern day economy based on the impact we have on the planet rather than on revenue only.