Bought the clothing – now get the franchise!

From the Rohan website: Lots of us have spent many happy hours in Rohan Shops, some of us may have dreamed of owning our own.

Interested? Please click the link & register your interest prior to the official launch of the Rohan franchise opportunity in January 2010.

Fairtrade Chic

The Fairtrade chic website describes itself as "your guide to buying fairtrade products and services in your country and area". The website aims to provide information about why you should buy Fairtrade, what products are available from fairtrade producers, and where in your area or online you can buy the fairtrade products.

10 of the best secondhand bookshops

The Guardian highlights ten superb secondhand bookshops. These include the Infusion favourite Scarthin Books in Cromford, Derbyshire:

It lures the nervous in with reassuring new titles – 40,000 across the range – then seduces them with the “aroma and mystique” of a similar number of secondhand books interpersed among them. This is a labyrinth – 13 rooms, cubby-holes crammed with volumes, plus an organic cafe, the walls of which are lined with literary curiosities. A children’s room contains 9,000 books old and new. There’s a large ­collection of secondhand sheet music and ­antiquarian treasures.

How Sunday trading changed the UK

Fifteen years ago, Sunday trading laws were introduced that led to a national love affair with shopping. There's a thoughful article on the BBC website discussing this.

Still shopping ethically during the recession

A recent poll of Friends of Cafédirect asked them if they were still shopping ethically in the recession. By an overwhelming majority, 77% are still shopping ethically, 21% do sometimes and only 2% have stopped shopping ethically in the downturn.

Hungry Elephant - affiliate scheme for charities‏

The Hungry Elephant website runs an affiliate scheme for charities to obtain a financial contribution from a vendor when someone uses the charity's code to shop online. It can be a way for voluntary organisations to lever income from the spending of your members or supporters. For example, some supermarkets will pay a certain percentage of the bill to the charity when people shop online with them. And the name? It comes from the "feeling that trying to fundraise is a bit like trying to feed a hungry elephant...a lot of hard work for very little gain". [forwarded by Phil]