Buying any sort of commercial product these days presents a disconnection between the consumer and the origin of the product, generally coming from a sweatshop in some distant country made by people who you’ll never know.

Fair trade changes that by allowing consumers to buy products that are traded on fair terms with craftspeople—and a local store is forging strong relationships at the heart of fair trade.

Beleza is a locally-owned fair trade boutique, located in Cameron Village, a shopping center near main campus. The store is owned by Philip Dail, director of advising and admissions for the College of Textiles, and his wife, Sara. The couple founded the business in 2005.

But what exactly is “fair trade?” Dail explains it best.

“You pay the producers the price that they need in the country where they live to sustain themselves,” Dail said. “They set the value.”

According to Dail, by using the fair trade philosophy to deal with the artisans who provide products for the store, the artisans have wider access to selling their products and learning about how business works.

“We also share almost everything about our business here so that they [the artisans] will have a bigger picture of what they are part of,” Dail said.

Fair trade is not only about marketing products for people who would normally sell their crafts at weekend fairs, but also about building relationships with the craftspeople and respecting their lifestyle and culture.

“Fair trade is built on the premise that we respect their culture,” Dail said. “We are not in any way trying to ‘Americanize’ their culture or any bit of them.”

For each product in the store, there is a card explaining what the product is, where it came from and who made it. It allows the buyer to also be a part of the relationship.

Beleza began with Kylie Schmidt, a College of Textiles student who had joined the Peace Corps and served in Madagascar.

While there, Schmidt discovered a group of women who made silk shawls and scarves. Schmidt, a textiles student, realized the high quality of the products and asked several professors within the college to help in aiding these women to market their products. Dail responded to Schmidt’s request.

Now Beleza is a “destination shopping place” at Cameron Village.

“People come to Cameron Village just to go to Beleza,” Dail said.

The store mainly specializes in women’s accessories such as scarves, jewelry, shawls and hats, also working with local artists to sell their crafts. Their artisans represent various developing countries across the globe.

Beleza also has several student employees, including a team of interns headed by Alex Martin, a senior in business administration.

Needing to fulfill a service requirement for his world population and food prospects class, Martin remembered Beleza.

“I met [Dail] several years ago at a LeaderShape conference and remembered the store. I e-mailed him directly and told him that I had some great ideas and wanted to help out,” Martin said. “He was immediately on board.”

Besides creating a high-quality website for Beleza with information about its products and fair trade, Martin’s team has also started an eBay store to sell products via the Internet.

Christy Michal, a senior in fashion and textile management, is an employee at Beleza. She decided to work there because she needed a summer job and has grown to enjoy it.

“I initially wanted the job because I needed a job in general, but it has become so much more since then,” Michal said.

According to Michal, some of the perks of working for the store include designing some of her own jewelry to sell.

“I had never worked with jewelry until working at Beleza, but being someone who enjoys using my hands, it was easy to pick up,” Michal said.

She also enjoys helping women who are having trouble selecting accessories.

“Some women come in the store looking for something to match a dress or go with a suit, and I really enjoy that process of finding the ‘perfect’ item for them,” Michal said.

Susan Navey-Davis, assistant department head for student affairs in the foreign language and literature department, said that she enjoys shopping at Beleza, mainly because she approves of the fair trade philosophy of doing business.

“I’m a strong supporter of the Dails’ way of doing business and I love the merchandise they choose for the store,” Navey-Davis said.

She especially likes to shop for gift items there.

“I have friends for whom I only shop at Beleza,” Navey-Davis said. “They have everything they need, but a handmade gift from a store that specializes in free trade is always appreciated.”

Beleza is a unique store not only because it specializes in handmade fair traded goods, but also because it has become a center for doing good in the community.

“We’ve collected shoes to send to Madagascar,” Dail said. “The store is far more than just a retail store.”

Navey-Davis said she enjoys that service-aspect of the shopping experience.

“They give away their home-grown vegetables and use the store to share information about worthwhile projects,” she said. “It’s more than a business, it’s a community.”

Fair trade is the center of the entire operation, and according to Dail, is the only way to do business with the people of these countries.

“The philosophy…is not negotiable,” he said.

The whole concept of a fair trade business is novel in this generation,” Michal said. “Fair trade business practices take in account the artisan and their needs for living.”

Martin added that people warm up to the idea that the money spent on a product directly goes to the artisan who made it.

“I think it’s an idea that students really like when they hear about it—their money goes to feeding someone’s family instead of lining the pockets of corporate executives,” Martin said.

Dail credits Schmidt for discovering the women of Madagascar and for having the passion to give them access to marketing their beautiful scarves and shawls.

“This store was never in my life plans. But it goes to show what combining the passions of people together can do.”