What we do

Tradewinds is a volunteer based, not-for-profit company who has been working to make trade fairer since 1977. We do this by:

  1. Putting people before profits. Through importing and selling tea and coffee, we've been building partnerships with producer communities since the very beginning. And when you give us a call, we offer the same sense of partnership because we want to work together to change the way we do business, aiming always to benefit those we are dealing with.

  2. Structuring fairer agreements. The people who produce our tea and coffee work very hard for very little income. We want them to get a fair reward for their labour. We focus on products which are fairly traded, environmentally sustainable, and provide the greatest benefit to the countries in which they're produced because this delivers:

    • higher incomes to growers 

    • new markets for small grower communities

    • more employment and new processing skills, especially for women 

    • a healthier working and living environment for growers and consumers.

  3. Advocating for social change. Over the years we've set ambitious goals to influence global trade. We're proud of some of our achievements here in Australia, although we're much more excited by the fact that fairer trading gives producers and their children many opportunities for creating positive change in their lives. We're proud to:

    • be the first company to import fairtrade tea to Australia

    • have helped launch the Fair Trade Association and fairtrade label in Aust. and NZ 

    • have been one of the first companies to support East Timor's coffee industry when they gained independence

    • have supported the development of a tea basket weaving cottage industry in Sri Lanka

    • have provided more than $1 million to support projects in producer communities.