The shop is named after a Peruvian girl with a wonderful smile. She was about 8 years old when the photo was taken in 1992 and Sonia’s Smile was opened in 2001, I actually met her in 2005 when we made a successful visit to twin Haworth with Machu Picchu Pueblo.
We are members of The British Association for Fair Trade Shops and most of the suppliers of the stock are on the BAFTS approved list of suppliers. The emphasis is of course fair trade and we are involved whenever possible in raising awareness of fair trade issues.
Opening times vary so please phone first if you are coming a long way to visit but the shop is usually open every Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 5pm all year round and most weekdays during the summer, winter is quiet here and the shop may be closed occasionally during the week.
Things you will find.
A large proportion of the stock is clothing, for example ladies skirts and dresses in sari fabric and patch velvet , tie dye and printed tops, jumpers, hooded knitted zip jackets, hats, scarves, lots of bags etc etc. Obviously things change and new and different items always appearing.
We have usually a large stock of men’s (or ladies!) grandad shirts in thin cheesecloth or thick brushed cotton lots of colours and sizes. A few men’s jumpers and jackets fleece lined hand knitted from Nepal.
Children’s clothes, colourful fun clothes up to 8/9 year old from SUSUMAMA rainbow fluffy jackets, hats, and scarves, tie dye and patch dresses and fairy dresses complete with wings (they fly out!) plus lots more.
Besides all this there are wooden children’s toys, jig saws skipping ropes, fabric Indian girl and boy dolls, organic cotton dolls clothes in a bag to fit Barbie or a baby doll, wooden and soapstone craft items, handmade paper, silk bedspreads, Indian wall hangings, cushions, incense, large tree carvings etc etc all from fair trade suppliers such as One Village, Lanka Kade, Naj’s, Namaste, Just Trade, Shukriya, Bishopston, Siesta Natural Nomads and more.
A range of silver jewellery from Pachamama made in Bali. They work directly with the silversmiths who are wonderful craftspeople and now have a better quality of life.
A full range of No Sweat trainers, pink boots, red boots, black boots, black with white trim boots and black with white trim shoes all from size 4.
There is a small range of Fairtrade mark foodstuffs, tea, coffee, chocolate, geobars, Ecover washing up liquid and hand soap. We unfortunately don’t have room for the full range of Fairtrade mark goods which now numbers well over 1000.
The other popular items you will find are recycled BOTTLES. Glass bottles made into fantastic wine glasses, classy ones, finely etched with geckos or swirls and funky ones made from Sol or Corona or even Grolsch bottles. There is usually a small range of locally turned items, lightpulls, bowls and dishes from a local man who does it for love not money so the quality shows!.
One other range we have is a selection of The Little Prince (Le Petit Prince) merchandise. Although this is not classed as fairly traded it is something which is very special to me. The message of the Little Prince is one which struck a chord many years ago and I realised that there were more people in the world who thought like I did. We have copies of the book so see for yourself!
Opening times vary so please phone first if you are coming a long way to visit but the shop will usually be open every Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 5pm all year round and most weekdays during the summer, winter is quiet here and the shop may be closed sometimes during the week.