Rosette Fair Trade is an online store that brings many Canadian fair trade brands and even some international brands together into one marketplace. In reality, most fair trade brands are small businesses and struggle to keep up with promotion in an increasingly competitive market. COVID-19 only made that more difficult. But bringing all of these companies together onto one platform like Rosette allows each of these small businesses to benefit from the collective brand power of our suppliers!
We are ourselves a relatively new (launched in 2019), small business. In fact, we only have one employee, and that’s the owner of The Rosette Network Ltd. Her name is Lia Walsh.
About our brands & vendor partners
Rosette sources its products from a number of small, Canadian businesses. We also import some products into Canada from the US and Europe. Since we do not import directly from producers in the Global South, all of our suppliers must demonstrate that their supply chain is verified by a third-party fair trade organization. We accept a number of fair trade certifiers and verifiers.
We also partner with some businesses that sell their products through our platform. Think of a system kind of like Etsy, where individual companies can have their own store page. These companies are called Vendor Partners throughout the Rosette website, and are reviewed similarly to suppliers before they’re permitted to sell their goods on Rosette.
Because fair trade is about ethical products, we also recognize the importance of shopping as small and local as possible. For this reason, when we’re able to source a particular product from small, Canadian companies, we do. If products are not available from small, Canadian companies, only then do we consider sourcing them from larger companies or other countries. This is part of our commitment to sustainability.
About the owner
Lia Walsh is an Ottawa-based communications geek, sustainability nerd and somewhat eccentric cat lady. She’s been volunteering in fair trade advocacy organizations since 2011, when her passion for equity and sustainability really caught fire! She is also one of the owners of Tubby Tabby Soaps, and makes soap as her day job.
