Gracias Fair Trade

07/13/2025

Please do not respond to ANY advertising on this page. We have been closed and fully retired for three years.

08/14/2022

After more than 24 years, the time has come for us to retire from our business and find something a little less physically arduous. We have made so many precious friends, and carry so many treasured memories and lessons from this long journey. We thank you for all your support over the years, whether it was volunteering, helping us pack and unpack trucks, wrap purchases, find new venues, publicize our sales, hosting us for a night (or a long time), feeding us, or just shopping fair trade. You have helped hundreds of families all over the world to escape poverty, live a better life, educate their kids and so much more. We are immensely grateful to you. You won't see us at the farmers' market, or at school or church, or at the Chicago Fair Trade pop-up store this year, but we will be thinking of you and celebrating all the wonderful moments we have had together. Many blessings to each one of you. Susanne and Vincent Donoghue

10/29/2021

We'll be back again to the Wheaton French Market for a final visit on October 30. We will be in the same place, at the end of the row near the train tracks and bike path. We'll be bringing great warm hats, scarves, gloves and animal hats for the kids!

10/26/2021

We are back in Chicago for the fall season. You can find us at Chicago Fair Trade's popup shop, this year in Andersonville at 5228 N. Clark. Dates are November 2 to December 23. It will be closed on Mondays except the week before Christmas. Hope you can join us there.

We will also be at Our Savior Lutheran Church at 1234 N. Arlington Heights Road in Arlington Heights from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Saturday, November 6. A fun event with lots and lots of fair trade vendors.

Dominican University at 7900 Division Street in River Forest will host its annual fair trade sale in Parmer Hall on Wednesday, November 10 from 10 a.m. to 3:30. Come see us and our wide selection of alpaca blend winterwear among other things!

St. Raymond de Penafort Catholic Church in Mt. Prospect will once again host us on Thanksgiving weekend, the 27th and 28th of November. Stay tuned for the times of this event!

We look forward to seeing you at one of these venues. Thank you for your loyal support of the artisans around the world who depend on all of us to help them survive.

12/25/2020

Many thanks to all who helped artisans around the world survive in this very difficult time by shopping fair trade! Merry Christmas, and felices fiestas from Ecuador!

See you next season, we hope!

Susanne and Vincent

11/18/2020

Join in online to see what we have for you and your loved ones this holiday season. Virtual shopping and more:

Alternate text
Join us from the comfort of your home this Friday, 11/20, at 6:00 p.m.
Check out our beautiful fair trade pop-up shop this Friday at 6:00. We'll take you on a tour and raise a glass to fair trade!You will find thousands of quality fair trade products from over thirty countries brought to you by over two dozen locally-owned (90% are women owned) businesses at our shop located at 2717 N. Clark Street in Lincoln Park. This year, we are offering
virtual shopping appointments
curbside pick up
shipping
an online marketplace so everyone can join in the loveliness!

While it always feels good to shop fair trade, it is more important than ever this year!

Join us and learn more Friday at 6:00 p.m. CST via Zoom by clicking this link: https://cft.events/popuptour or catch us on Facebook Live.

Zoom is the leader in modern enterprise video communications, with an easy, reliable cloud platform for video and audio conferencing, chat, and webinars across mobile, desktop, and room systems. Zoom Rooms is the original software-based conference room solution used around the world in board, confer...

10/31/2020

Come see our booth at the Chicago Fair Trade popup store at 2717 N. Clark, Chicago. Lots of fair trade goodies including alpaca winter wear and socks, holiday ornaments and gifts, including hand-woven tapestries from our beloved Ecuador.

Store will be open from November 1 to December 23. Hours will be posted on the Chicago Fair Trade Popup Store site very soon. You might want to get a head start on holiday shopping--we won't be able to restock very much this year because of Covid.

10/07/2020

Lots of changes to our regular fall routine. Most of our host churches and schools have had to cancel their fair trade markets because of COVID-19. We are sorry to miss seeing you this year! But we will be at the French Market in Wheaton (near the train station) on October 24.

And our friends at Chicago Fair Trade have responded creatively to the challenge of serving fair trade artisans in developing countries by opening their market with corona restrictions in place--masks, distancing, limited access, curbside pickup and more--watch their website--from November 1 to December just before Christmas. We will have a more limited selection available in our booth at the Chicago Fair Trade pop-up store, 2717 N. Clark, Chicago.

We will offer alpaca socks, alpaca winterwear, ornaments, candle lanterns, and bread warmers. Please come and help us help our friends in Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, India and Bangladesh to feed their families this year. For most of them, this year has been harder than ever!

12/28/2019

Dear fair trade friends--we hope you all had a wonderful and warm Christmas and we're wishing you a very happy New Year. We are back in Ecuador, and our next season won't begin until October 2020. In the meantime, you can find beautiful handmade items whose makers are in need of fair income to feed their families in places like Ten Thousand Villages in Evanston, Oak Park and Glen Ellyn. Just look up fair trade stores near me. We thank you for our most successful season ever!

12/17/2019

Thank you to all our friends who helped us make this our most successful year ever! Though we have finished our last event, we still can be found at 2717 N Clark in Chicago until Dec. 23rd, in the Chicago Fair Trade popup store. We still have some wonderful gifts available for you to purchase for loved ones. Come see our booth and the other 41 vendors and support fair trade and the artisans who work so hard to lift their families out of poverty! We thank you and wish you the most blessed holiday season!