Fairtrade bike gear?

fidero

Hi guys,
Have any of ye heard of been able to buys Fairtrade parts for bikes in particular types & tubes (I would imagine particularly nasty ends of the industry)? I did a bit of Googling & searching boards but wasn't able to come up with anything. Anybody any suggestions?

Thanks,
Fi.

Chris O Donoghue

Funnily enough we had a chat about that at lunchtime but nobody seemed to have any ideas about where to start. Most people are familiar with sweatshop practices used by the clothing companies but I haven't heard anything about tyres and tubes specificallly.

When I Googled the topic there were plenty of results about things made from OLD tyres; bags, sandals etc but no mention of the actual tyres.

This is about bikes ingeneral:
http://www.ethicalconsumer.org/buyersguides/traveltransport/bicycles.aspx

Chips Lovell

What unethical practices are bike tyre manufacturers involved with?

Cookie_Monster

Vladimir Kurtains wrote: »

What unethical practices are bike tyre manufacturers involved with?

rubber plantations, screwing small farmers, burning down rainforest etc.

Funnily enough I now work in the coffee industry and the perception in here is that Fairtrade is nothing but a money making exercise these days. Yes, the farmers get slightly better prices but they have to pay to use the brand, as do we, as do distributers, importers etc. It's basically just one big money making brand name that offers very marginal benefits and plays on customer perception that everyone is getting a better deal.

fidero

Hi guys,
Chris: interesting to read that my Giant is down near the bottom of the list of manufacturers, 10.5.

Cookie Monster: You got it spot on re. rubber plantations, screwing small farmers, burning down rainforests, etc.
That is a pity that the Fairtrade brand has gone to muc..

Thanks again all,
Fi.

Darkglasses

It doesn't really help on the tubes front, but for everything else, i'm of the mind that buying second hand is as ethical as it comes.

Chris O Donoghue

fidero wrote: »

Hi guys,
Chris: interesting to read that my Giant is down near the bottom of the list of manufacturers, 10.5.

Fi.

I don't even see my Specialized on the list, I always knew they were made by blind orphans in a cave under a volcano