‘I never thought Traidcraft Exchange would rebrand…’

Traidcraft Exchange has changed its name to Transform Trade. Charlotte Timson, CEO, reflects on what this really means and shares how we got to this point.

I have been at Traidcraft Exchange for 8 years. One of the values that still impresses me most about the organisation is the quiet determination of staff to just get on with it. We don’t shout loudly about our work nor publicise it widely. As a colleague once said, ‘we do the boring but really important stuff’.

These last few years, we have been on quite a journey. In 2018 the board split Traidcraft Exchange and Traidcraft plc into two organisations. There were good reasons for this.

Neither of us were fulfilling our potential and internally we’d become quite muddled. By setting up independent boards and leadership, we both had the opportunity to focus on our distinct but complementary missions - and to go deeper and wider with our impact.

Standing independently as a charity has been exciting and challenging. It has enabled us to think deeply about how we can change a trading system that is structurally unjust, perpetuates gross inequality and destroys our planet.

We’ve focused on working more systemically to enable entrepreneurs and community led businesses to flourish. And we’ve tackled some of the key drivers of trade injustice through our advocacy and campaigning work.

But we’ve also had to reflect on our resourcing model. We are fortunate as a charity to have committed and generous supporters who give year on year to support our work. Together we have enabled communities across the world to build a better future for themselves.

But in seeking to reach new supporters, we’ve faced significant challenges. The name Traidcraft Exchange doesn’t mean anything to them. In fact, people confuse us with Fairtrade or Traidcraft plc.

We’ve spent more time explaining who we are not, than who we are.

I never thought Traidcraft Exchange would rebrand. But confronted with evidence our name is holding us back, I had to act.

The last 18 months we have consulted widely with our staff, supporters and partners. We have sought a name that states simply what we do and who we are because we will not be spending lots of resources on marketing and advertising. Our name might be changing but our values aren’t.

Transform Trade was actually suggested by one of our supporters. Much like our organisation, it is a name that just gets on with it. There’s no fuss, no hidden meaning, just one big goal – to see transformation in the world of trade.

Globally we face greater challenges than ever before with the impacts of Covid-19, the climate crisis, food supply disruption and polarising inequality. We need a rallying cry for more people to join the movement for trade and climate justice.

Changing our name means we can now focus all our resources and energy on fulfilling our mission: to Transform Trade, so everybody benefits.