Truck of Fairtrade Bananas © Fairtrade Foundation

The Just Fashion Show 2011

You can now shop with us online. Just has many fab friends who live up and down the country who cannot make it to our shop. Now they don't have to miss out and nor do their friends ...or theirs ...or theirs.

Have a browse of the online shop. Tell us what you think. Start planning your online Christmas shopping with us! Lots more products on the way... Could you help by spreading the word using posters and flyers and little flyers? We'll give you a big hug - well, we might poke you on Facebook.

Just returned with a fantastic new Fashion Show after a break of several years. Standing room only for the show and a heaving shop in the foyer of the newly-opened St Martins House.

We had a great mix of new faces to a Just catwalk and stars of previous shows. We had a tooth fairy who lost a tooth as she was due on the catwalk. Plenty of smiles, oohs and aahs and sales of clothes were great. A big thanks to all.

More pictures on Facebook and by Nick Osborne here

For a night you can put ethics in your shopping basket and get the rewards of great products that make a difference to more than your street cred.

We have a mix to please all, fair trade, organic, eco bamboo and eco hemp. Dresses, skirts, tops, trousers, a huge range of bags, scarves, jewelry even Fairtrade trainers and comfy stylish flip flops ... loads for women, something for men and for babies and little children too.

Saturday 18th June 2011 St Martins House, 7 Peacock Lane, Leicester, LE1 5PZ next to the Cathedral - nearest parking is in The Lanes Pay and Display (only £1.50 after 6pm!)

Tickets £5 (£2.50 cons) in advance;
£6/£3 on the door (includes FREE DRINK)
Doors open 7pm, show starts 7.45pm
Tickets available from Just, The Fair Trade Shop

The shop will close at 3pm on the day of the show

The players and staff at Leicester City Football team showed a new talent - colouring in - by helping with the world record attempt for the longest handmade piece of bunting for FairTrade Fortnight.

Sarah from Just, Karen from Midlands Co-op and Helen from Leicester City Council met the team at their training ground where they all got behind the world record attempt by adding their own artwork to bunting triangles. See more pics on Facebook.

Thank you Sven and company!

You are invited on Tuesday 15th March 2010 to Queen’s Building Lecture Theatre, De Montfort University from 5pm till 7pm including light refreshments.

With

• Professor Paul Fleming, MSc PhD FEI CEng. Professor of Energy Management and Director of Sustainable Development at DMU
• Philemon Allen, Banana Farmer from St.Vincent and Vice-Chairman of WINFA, The Windward Islands Farmers’ Association. WINFA has been working with Fairtrade since the 1990s when groups of Fairtrade farmers were set up on each island. Together they began shipping Fairtrade bananas to the UK in 2000. There are now approximately 48 Fairtrade Groups with about 3,347 members.
• Vennetta Johnston, Director of Inspirational Volunteer Journeys IVJ is a social enterprise that provides leadership development through volunteering for people who want to give something back to our global community. They match the skills of volunteers to the needs of local communities to tackle poverty in Africa and the Caribbean . They are developing the Future Leaders volunteering programme in partnership with WINFA in the Windward Islands.

To book a place email helen.lansdown@leicester.gov.uk or phone her on T 0116 252677

Show off your creative streak for Fairtrade Fortnight 2011 and break a world record!

We're showing off about buying Fairtrade which offers 7.5 million people in the developing world a more secure future.

This Fairtrade Fortnight, people all over Leicester, in fact all over the UK are making bunting. Using triangles of plain strong Fairtrade organic cotton we’re expressing what Fairtrade means to us by making beautiful and colourful bunting triangles.

Schools, colleges, churches, community groups all around the city and county will be making bunting triangles and we will be stringing the bunting up all around St Martins Square on Saturday 12th March and having a bit of a party!

After the event we will send our bunting into the Fairtrade Foundation to join the other triangles in an attempt to break the world record for the longest continual piece of bunting.

Come and join in, Taste samples of yummy Fairtrade goodies from Midlands Co-operative and The Just Shop, listen to live music from De Montfort University’s fabulous Gospel Choir, See the home made bunting flapping in the breeze showing Leicester’s support for Fairtrade and Make a triangle yourself to add to the ever growing string of bunting made by school and community groups from all over Leicester and Hear the stories of how Fairtrade is transforming the lives of cotton farmers in India and Africa giving them hope for a brighter future for themselves, their families and their communities.

The first Fairtrade cotton came from Agroocel in Gujarat State, Western India 5 years ago but now farmers in Mali West Africa are also benefiting from Fairtrade.

These small-scale cotton growers face difficult challenges. Cotton prices are unstable and the US and EU dump cheap subsidised cotton onto world markets making it tougher for the small scale farmers in India and Africa.

Traditional farming techniques use lots of chemical pesticides which is harming agricultural communities and the environment. And flood irrigation is depleting rivers and water tables, making water a scarce commodity for many cotton growing communities.

Fairtrade cotton is not only addressing the human poverty but also the environmental impact of the farming.

When selling cotton under Fairtrade terms farmers not only get a guaranteed minimum price, their co-op receives additional money, the Fairtrade premium, to invest in community development projects.

"I did not get any education but I want my children to. Because of the Fairtrade price, I can send them to school." - Laljibhai Narranbhai, cotton farmer, Agroocel