Students will have a new opportunity to get some Christmas shopping done on campus at the Fair Trade Holiday Fair this Friday in the Alumni Memorial Union from noon to 4 p.m.

The event, co-sponsored by social justice groups Ubuntu and JUSTICE, will feature fair trade and non-sweatshop produced items such as coffee, tea, chocolate, jewelry, accessories, musical instruments, body products, handcrafted items and clothes from local Milwaukee businesses.

"It's a good opportunity for students to come and look around to see what these stores have to offer," said Courtney Konyn, a member of Ubuntu and a sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences.

Konyn said the goal of putting the fair together is to get people to think about what they are supporting when they purchase certain products. She said Ubuntu is an anti-sweatshop group that stems from an African philosophy and "recognizes the dignity of work" by focusing on workers' rights and treatment.

Konyn said fair trade is about individual consumers taking responsibility by becoming conscious of what they are buying. She said Friday marks the first fair trade fair at Marquette.

Carlo Giombi, member of Ubuntu and a sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences, helped plan the event. Giombi said he hopes the fair will become a regular event and will change the way people think about shopping.

"Fair trade is a chance to get things you need, but also a chance to provide a fair wage to the people in developing countries that are making what you need," Giombi said in an e-mail. He said in an unfair balance of trade, workers are exploited so Americans can have cheap goods.

At the fair, each vendor will have space to sell items and display information about fair trade to help educate consumers, Giombi said.

"Fair trade offers an ethical alternative for purchasing in our consumer-driven society," he said.

Mike Howden, board member of the Southeastern Wisconsin Initiative for Fair Trade, said the main goal of fair trade stores and groups is to educate people about a fair trade economy. Howden runs Four Corners of the World, a fair trade store located at 5401 W. Vliet St.

He said the store buys primarily from the Fair Trade Federation and that fair trade products benefit workers, producers and consumers alike. Four Corners of the World is one of the participating vendors at the fair.

Howden said he appreciates the Marquette students' interest in fair trade.