“It’s cute, it’s beautiful and it has a cause,” Haley Art Gallery owner Jackie Abramian said as she held a handmade journal from India, supplied through a fair trade organization.

For Abramian, making sure all of the items she sells either come from a local artist or a Fair Trade organization lets her know her artists aren’t being exploited.

Fair Trade organizations ensure that consumers know where retail items were made and that the producer was working in fair trade conditions (socially, economically and sustainably). Haley Art Gallery in Kittery, Maine, gets fair trade items from organizations that support, promote and supply fair trade all over the world, including Baskets of Cambodia and NAO Jewelry & Giftware.

Fair Trade items customers can expect to find include paperweights, candleholders, tableware, baskets, wine carriers, tapestries, table runners, Christmas cards and ornaments during the holidays.

Fa La Lo co-owner Liz Wright had a similar idea when opening her store in Portsmouth. She guarantees fair trade items for “the sanctity of the human being, every single human being,” she said, as many items sold in conventional stores are made by children working in dangerous environments.

“We see the store as a sort of vehicle to educate the public about fair trade,” Wright said.

Some of the organizations Fa La Lo works with are HandCrafting Justice, Avatar Imports, Ten Thousand Villages, United to Live Better, Equal Exchange, Global Goods Partners and Rubia.

From these organizations and others, Fa La Lo carries coffee and tea, candy, ornaments, jewelry, purses, bowls, scarves, and even a computer revitalizer powered by the operating system Ubuntu. Wright said her intent in carrying the Ubuntu revitalizer is to get more people to recycle computers because trashing them causes harsh conditions for people involved in the cleanup.

Wright said she wants people to start thinking about where their items come from. Is it from a factory or handmade? Factories are okay, Wright said, as long as the workers are treated well.

Abramian said she does not carry any mass-produced items. “The person who is mass-producing the item is underpaid and abused and the corporation, meanwhile, is making millions,” she said. “I guess it’s a social political statement of what we do here.”

The economic impact of fair trade is one reason why Water Monkey in Portsmouth also supports it, owner Roger Pease said. “We feel that people should get paid a fair wage to produce a product,” Pease said. “It’s just about being fair and not greedy.”

Thirty years ago, before people were even talking about fair trade, Pease started buying handmade bags from a friend in Lima, Peru. He now carries other items from various fair trade organizations around the world, including the United States.

“We always try to have a connection to the stuff and where it’s coming from,” Pease said. “We have a conscious approach to clothing... There’s plenty of Wal-Marts, and they don’t offer products that have a conscience.”

Abramian also noted the strong connections fair trade items make. “I think it’s connecting the world,” she said.

Abramian also added that fair trade often brings the industry back to basics. “That’s how we started—people made things with their hands,” she said.

Fair trade items often promote creativity, which makes them more enjoyable to deal with, Abramian said.

“It’s part of their soul in this creation, so when you hold it in your hand that energy is transferred to you,” she said.

In addition to Haley Art Gallery, Water Monkey and Fa La Lo, other Seacoast businesses that carry fair trade items include 1 World Trading Co. on Congress Street in Portsmouth, Blue Moon Unique Gifts & Fair Trade Imports in Dover and Serendipity in Exeter.

There will be a Fair Trade Futures Conference from Friday to Sunday, Sept. 10 to 12, at the Marriott Hotel in Quincy, Mass., with more then 740 entrepreneurs, students, activists and others. The conference will feature a marketplace of more than 50 fair trade organizations for people to shop, taste and experience.