Annemarie van Amerongen is the owner of Fair Tale, a fair trade & sustainable lifestyle store in Zutphen. Here, you don’t come just to shop; you learn how to make your personal style more fair trade & sustainable, from what to wear to where you feel at home. From an early age, Annemarie learned to embrace her mistakes.
“As a child, I loved visiting the Fair Trade shop. I found it interesting that their items came from all over the world. A Unicef presentation at my primary school was a real eye-opener for me. I found out about what was happening in the world, but also realized the potential for change. To me, change starts with good education, good healthcare and fair trade. This drive to contribute to fair trade inspired me to open Fair Tale, where we feature eco-conscious fashion from ARMEDANGELS, a pioneer in sustainable fashion. We also carry bicycles from Roetz, a Dutch social enterprise that produces stylish, eco-friendly bikes using recycled materials. And jewelry by A Beautiful Story, of course, which I think is a great example of a company that flawlessly combines fair trade and social entrepreneurship with aesthetics and style."
"You learn the most from the things that go wrong."
"Every brand we sell meets at least one of our 5 core values: fair trade, organic, cruelty-free, sustainable and love. And every year we donate 1% of our sales to charities: abroad and in the Netherlands, benefiting both people and the environment. Following 2023, we donated €1,650 to the Bee Foundation in Vorden and the same amount to The Asha Foundation in Nepal.
Starting the WAAR franchise shop 8 years ago taught me a great deal about retail. When the pandemic hit and we all had to stay at home, I realized how much I missed the shop. To me, it was confirmation that this was my path. Conversations followed, resulting in me continuing as an independent entrepreneur under a new name: Fair Tale. Entrepreneurship comes with a lot of lessons. And you learn the most from the things that go wrong. I now know it had to turn out this way. My vision for Fair Tale is to turn it into a diverse brand. With books, organized trips and a private label, for instance. This year, for the first time, I am organizing a workation for sustainable and social entrepreneurs. Next year, I want to organize a trip to Nepal."
Favorite: dragonfly
"I like all brooches by A Beautiful Story. But I wear the dragonfly almost every day. I never actually knew why. Until I found out that the dragonfly represents change, insights and adventure. Well, that fits my story and vision perfectly."
