Fairtrade Italia and ECOFFEE: a sustainable partnership for a better future

July 27, 2011 - PRLog -- Padua (Italy), July 27, 2011. The global economic crisis and environmental issues have created a greater awareness among consumers for everything related to environmental sustainability and social responsibility. This is an international trend leading to an always growing demand for fair trade, organic and "green" food and non-food products.
Italian consumers too are getting closer to what it is not wise to define as a transient trend, but rather a must  to guarantee future economic and environmental sustainability. The agreement signed between Fairtrade Italia http://www.fairtradeitalia.it -the Italian Organization member of FLO (Fairtrade Labelling Organization) issuing Fairtrade marks in Italy-  and DESITA http://www.desita.it -an Italian consulting company specialized in Retail and Horeca design and services-  will certainly boost this phenomenon on the Italian market.

The bilateral agreement provides mutual support for the dissemination of the principles of environmental sustainability, fair trade and social responsibility on the entire Italian market  through a focus on in-store actions. DESITA, thanks to its ECOFFEE project http://www.ecoffee.it/eng , designed by DESITA’s founder Norman Cescut  and offering a full platform of sustainability-related services for the Retail and Horeca business, will promote Fairtrade products and will support  Fairtrade licensees through its wide range of retail-oriented services and solutions: from architectural design, branding, process analysis, franchise creation. The Fairtrade certified products will also find a privileged placement among the products available at the ECOFFEE franchise cafés.

On the other hand, Fairtrade Italia has committed to share with its stakeholders- Retail business licensees, Association members and consumers – all the services offered by DESITA and   ECOFFEE.

"I am very happy to have reached this agreement," states Paolo Pastore, Managing Director of Fairtrade Italia "This agreement is very different from the usual one and I am  sure that it will bring a much wider scope and visibility to Fairtrade certified products, the only Fair Trade certification that has deserved consumers’ trust all around the world. "

"Being supported by such an important organization as Fairtrade Italia has once again confirmed that what I have created, the ECOFFEE service platform, is a requirement for a better future," says Norman Cescut "This gives me the strength to keep on working in what is still an immature industry, that of sustainability in the Italian Retail and Horeca panorama. I am convinced that this partnership will actually contribute to the creation and dissemination of a more responsible consumption on the Italian market.”