Fair Trade Cupid: Fabulous V-Day Gifts Under $50

In this day and age, it's more frustrating than ever to find the perfect gift for someone — especially one that's also guilt-free on the green tip. We need things that are sustainable, clever, classy, and won't make a huge hole in our budgets, the search for which can sometimes take a lot of time and energy we just don't have.

Not any more!

Shoestring is psyched to announce our newest contributor, Rachel Sarnoff, founder of EcoStiletto.com (formerly co-founder of the Green Girl Guide), who will regularly be sharing her favorite tips, tricks, and thrifty things that "help shrink your carbon footprint from a ginormous boot into an oh-so-slender stiletto."

Read on for her first column as our resident Queen of Green; a complete gift guide for making even the most eco-cynical of Cupids smile this Valentine's Day.

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If you're like me, the week before Valentine's Day is a scramble to find sweet things to give. But here's the dirty little secret behind mass-produced candy: the U.S. State Department estimates that 15,000 children have been sold as slaves to the African farms where most cacao is cultivated. On the sugar side, massive amounts of herbicides and pesticides are routinely sprayed on sugar cane crops, which are then burned after harvest, leading to ground, water and air pollution.

Not so sweet.

Thankfully, fair trade certified cacao and sugar are slowly but surely making their way into our markets. But what does "fair trade" really mean? In a nutshell, the manufacturers of fair trade sugar, chocolate and other products typically work in third-world countries to forge economic partnerships that can alleviate poverty, reduce inequality, and create opportunities for farmers and artists — especially women, who produce 76% of all fair trade goods. These businesses combat human trafficking by creating opportunities for parents, so that they don't resort to selling their children or their children's labor.

Sweet!

But, as fair trade manufacturing becomes increasingly in vogue, how do you know who's legit? In the U.S., the easiest way is to look for packaging that shows a TransFair USA logo or the phrase "A 100% Fair Trade Company," which indicates membership in the Fair Trade Federation (FTF). However, some companies who genuinely support fair trade principles do so without certification; you can also do your own research to determine whether their practices are legit.

This Valentine's Day, the EcoStiletto team put together a list of fair trade gifts we think would make even the greenest of Cupids smile. Shop for the foodie, the spa junkie, the "eco-fashionista," or the  in your life: each of our product selections is fair trade made and under $50 — plus, enter to win some $1,200 in fair trade Valentine giveaways, including these products, by becoming a member at EcoStiletto.com. (Shoestring readers get a free trial month of EcoStiletto membership!)

Here are a few of our favorites:

FOR THE FOODIE

Chocri Chocolate Bars ($8 and up)
These design-your-own chocolate bars from Chocri are made exclusively from fair trade and organic chocolate. The company offers 10 billion possible combinations of ingredients — many of them organic — to create your perfect chocolate experience, plus sales of Chocri benefit the DIV Kinder organization, which supports children from the Ivory Coast. 64% cocoa with organic pretzels and extra salt? Oh, yes.

Whole Foods Whole Trade Guaranteed Products (various)
Select mini-splurges at Whole Foods — such as the 365 Everyday Value Chocolate Bars, Fair Trade Patagonia Wildflower Honey, Allegro Coffee, Alter Eco Red Quinoa, Fairhills Bus Stop Red Wine, and Alaffia Antioxidant Shea Butter (okay, technically not a food item but we are addicted) — are all certified to have provided equitable wages and safe working environments for producers. In addition, a percentage of each sale goes to the Whole Planet Foundation, a private, nonprofit organization which provides microfinance grants in Latin America, Africa, and Asia to support micro-enterprise loan programs, training, and other financial services for the self-employed poor.

Wholesome Sweeteners FTC Organic Honey ($10)
Since 2005, the Sugar Land, Texas-based (really!) Wholesome Sweeteners has raised more than $1 million for the sugar cane farmers they work with in Malawi, Costa Rica, Paraguay, and Mexico, where they manufacture Fair Trade Certified sugar and honey. Their sugar cane is cultivated by hand and grown without synthetic fertilizers, pesticides or herbicides, and their small mills recycle spent sugar cane into fuel to generate electricity for the mill and for nearby villages. In 2008, the company introduced the first Fair Trade Certified Organic Honey ever sold in the U.S. Drizzle it on!

FOR THE SPA JUNKIE

Basa Body "Kiss Me" Gift Pack ($30)
Named for the women of Mombasa, Basa Body Stick, Soap and Natural Coconut Oil Body Lotions are fair trade formulated with organic, wild coconut oil from Kenya, harvested by women who are using microloans from Yehu Microfinance to lift themselves out of poverty. Basa Body donates 10% of all sales back to Kenyan projects that work hard to alleviate poverty. All good will aside, the three-product combo has proven to make our skin as soft and smooth as silk.

Liz Earle Skin Treatments ($50)
We'll sacrifice our laugh lines to Liz Earle's Superskin Eye & Lip Treatment, an incredibly plumping serum that utilizes shea butter that's fair trade sourced from the 450-women strong Tung Teiya Women's Shea Association in Ghana, West Africa.

FOR THE ECO-FASHIONISTA

Andira International Tees ($25 and up)
Paper-thin organic cotton Rain Tees from Andira International are the layers of choice at EcoStiletto central. Andira uses fair trade labor practices to create products that inspire global awareness of logging and deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon; the company also helps to rescue endangered animals through the Merazonia foundation.

Brilliant Earth Sustainable Jewelry ($50 and up)
The simple elegance of Brilliant Earth's 18K Yellow Gold Choco Fair Trade Pendant utilizes one of the first truly fair trade sources of gold from Oro Verde, a responsible mining cooperative in Colombia. Brilliant Earth is an online retailer that specializes in conflict-free Canadian diamonds, works with recycled metals, and donates five percent of proceeds to communities in Africa who have been affected by the diamond trade. Oh, and did we mention how much we also love their personalized recycled silver charm necklaces?

Leakey Zulugrass Multi-Strand Jewelry ($19 and up)
We love to layer up with Zulugrass Multi-Strand Necklaces from Leakey Collections, which was co-founded by former Kenyan Parliament Member Philip Leakey, the son of revolutionary paleo-anthropologists Drs. Louis and Mary Leakey, to provide economic opportunities to local Maasai communities in East Africa. The necklaces are made from hand-dyed, sustainably-harvested local grasses — wear them long or twist once for a choker, twice for an anklet or three times for a bracelet. So pretty.

Hands Up Not Handouts Cuff Bracelets ($50)
On our wish list? Big Cuff bracelets from the Hands Up Not Handouts foundation, which donates 100% of proceeds back to producers to create self-sustainable communities (proceeds from Big Cuffs benefit the Qalandia Women's Cooperative in Palestine). We love HUNHO's tagline, "Women make super cool stuff. We help sell it," almost as much as their mission of education and empowerment.

FOR THE PLAYER

Incas vs Conquerors Peruvian Chess Set ($40)
Up for a game of strip chess? Try playing on a hand-painted Peruvian board in which Incas, led by the Empress Nusta, battle the Conquerors, led by the King and Queen of Spain. The fair trade chess set is from World of Good, which connects artisans from developing communities with mainstream retail markets through the eBay online marketplace. World of Good currently sells tens of thousands of products from 85 countries, representing nearly 200 sellers — many of them fair trade.

Sustainable Soccer Balls ($43 and up)
Vegan, FTF-certified Fair Trade Sports balls are made from sustainably-sourced rubber in India and Sri Lanka by adult workers who are paid a living wage and ensured healthy working conditions. Fair Trade Sports balls also carry the first-ever "green" certification for balls and they donate all after-tax profits to children's charities. Goal!

Photo credit: Leakey Collection