Fair trade goods could help small retailers carve out a market for themselves, one industry body believes.

A spokesperson for The British Association for Fair Trade Shops (BAFTS) said: "The increased public awareness about fair trade has meant that fair trade retailing is not quite the niche market it used to be."

"There are more and more success stories", she added.

However, she believes with supermarkets also stocking up on fair trade products, smaller retailers would have to provide a wider range of goods.

She said that members of BAFTS stock fair trade products such as clothes, crafts, jewellery, accessories and home wares.

This meant they could "offer the ethical consumer much more than supermarkets", she remarked.

Fairtrade.org say the Fairtrade Mark is a guarantee that disadvantaged producers in the developing world are getting a better deal.

According to thirdsector.co.uk British consumers believe that shopping ethically is a more effective way to relieve global poverty than donating to charity.

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