Ten Thousand Villages of Seattle

Ten Thousand Villages' mission is to create opportunities for artisans in developing countries to earn income by bringing their products and stories to our markets through long-term fair trading relationships. Ten Thousand Villages has been working around the world since 1946. In 1991, Ten Thousand Villages of Seattle opened in Kirkland as a mission of the Seattle Mennonite Church. In 1994, the store moved from Kirkland to downtown Seattle, near the Pike Place Market. In 2000, Ten Thousand Villages of Seattle incorporates as its own organization and moves to its current Roosevelt location.

As one of the world's oldest and largest fair trade organizations, Ten Thousand Villages has spent more than 70 years cultivating trading relationships in which artisans receive a fair price for their work and consumers have access to distinctive handcrafted items. We seek to establish long-term buying relationships in places where skilled artisans are under or unemployed, and in which they lack other opportunities for income. A founding member of the World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO), Ten Thousand Villages sees fair trade as an alternative approach to conventional international trade.