MINTH's Fair Trade Inititative Centre
Rue Haute/Hoogstraat, 139
1000 Bruxelles/Brussels, Belgium
Tel : ++32 (0)2/213.12.15 - 213.12.22
Fax : ++32 (0)2/213.12.12
e-mail : ftic.services@minth.be

Artcamp SC de RL, rural womens artisans cooperative in Guerrero Mexico,
in collaboration with supporters in the United States and Europe,
have announced that they convened an initiative to establish
an effective, revolutionary Artisan-Owned Direct Distribution Model.

The women of Artcamp are from a traditional handcrafts producing village.
Their local industry has always sold to Importer Distributors who thereupon
sell to Retailers. The project’s objective is to increase the Producer group
profit margin by performing the fulfillment functions of the traditional Distributor
using UPS and DHL to deliver the products from the “factory” to Retailers’ doors.

By being their own Distributor and eliminating the need to hold products
in United States or European warehouses, the Artcamp Cooperative can
make a better price to the Retailer customer and earn more profit as well.

This is an historic effort and opportunity. Our idea is show the model works,
then take the functional system, making it available to other producer groups.