Royal College of Art design student Ed Murphitt has created a new online retail concept based on the idea that direct trade is the best form of fair trade.

The online store helps foster three-way relationships between designers, producers and consumers, putting all three parties in direct contact and eliminating the problem common to high street stores that consumers are far too removed from the realities of the products they buy to make informed purchasing decisions.

The system works as follows:

1. Designers register and upload their own product designs, together with manufacturing instructions and specifying their royalty fee
2. Producers identify products that they can manufacture and register themselves as producers with details of manufacturing time and cost
3. Consumers browse the online store, identify the products they want to buy, and can select their preferred manufacturer based in whatever is important to them (e.g. price, location, timescales, working practices, quality etc).

The great thing about the concept is that all three parties can interact directly with each other, providing better products and services, and enabling consumers to make informed choices based on the issues that really matter to them.

The concept still needs development to turn it into a viable long-term business proposition, but it’s a superb proof of concept so keep an eye on it at www.WeFab.org.