Commitment to Social Equity, Environmental Stewardship, and Ethical Sourcing
INTRODUCING
Fair For Life &
FairWild
Why Fair Trade Matters
Fair trade in herbal wellness is about more than sourcing—it’s about equity, sustainability, and shared respect. Many of the herbs in our products are grown or wild-harvested in regions where protections are limited. Fair for Life and FairWild standards help ensure workers are treated fairly, biodiversity is protected, and cultural traditions are honored.
A key part of this model is the fair trade premium—funds that go directly back into local communities to support initiatives like education, clean water, and infrastructure. When we source with fairness, everyone benefits—from soil to supplement.
Our Fair for Life & FairWild Commitment
As part of our mission to honor the connection between people, plants, and the planet, Gaia Herbs is proud to be certified under the Fair for Life fair trade standard and to support the FairWild certification for wild-harvested herbs. These initiatives reflect our commitment to social equity, environmental stewardship, and ethical sourcing across our supply chain—even if our labels don’t yet carry their seals.
What is Fair for Life?
Fair for Life is more than a label. It’s a rigorous certification system that ensures fair working conditions, equitable wages, transparent supply chains, and environmental respect for farmers and workers around the world. Fair for Life is unique among other fair trade certifications in that it evaluates an entire business and its practices—ensuring the highest levels of integrity from soil to supplement.
Our certification empowers us to partner with suppliers who treat people and the planet with the same care we do. Even though we do not currently label products with the Fair for Life seal, this standard is embedded in how we operate and source.
Introducing FairWild
Not all herbs are cultivated—some are wild-harvested from forests, mountains, or meadows. That's where FairWild comes in. This certification protects biodiverse and sensitive ecosystems by ensuring that wild plants are harvested responsibly and that the people who collect them are compensated fairly.
At Gaia Herbs, about 20% of our ingredients are wild-sourced each year. We support FairWild standards as a way to safeguard these precious resources and honor the generational knowledge of wild collectors, particularly in regions like Appalachia and the Balkans.
We believe that wild harvesting, when done ethically, can help restore both land and livelihoods.
SUPPLIER SPOTLIGHT:
Wild-Harvested Vitex in the Balkans
In the sun-dappled meadows and forest edges of the Balkans, Vitex—also known as chaste tree berry—thrives as it has for centuries. Here, local communities, many with generations of wild-harvesting knowledge, carefully gather this valuable berry by hand. Our trusted partners follow FairWild guidelines to ensure that Vitex is collected sustainably, protecting delicate habitats, and supporting fair livelihoods for harvesters. FairWild funds were used to rebuild a school and establish a healthcare clinic in a remote area in the Albanian community where we source Vitex from.
Vitex has long been traditionally used to support women’s wellness, and by sourcing it responsibly, we honor both the plant and the people who steward its natural abundance. It’s one more way we stay true to our commitment: from soil to supplement, caring for people, plants, and the planet.
SUPPLIER SPOTLIGHT:
Doselva in Nicaragua
One of our proud Fair for Life-certified sourcing partners is Doselva, a smallholder farming organization based in Nicaragua. Doselva, who received Regenerative Organic Certification®, supports over 200 local farmers—many of whom are women—by offering fair wages, agroecological training, and stable market access for their crops.
Doselva plays a vital role in supplying the majority of our Turmeric root for our line of turmeric supplements. Their commitment to regenerative farming and social equity embodies the spirit of what Fair for Life stands for.
We are honored to walk alongside them on this journey toward greater global wellbeing.
DISCOVER ALL OUR
Strategic Partnerships
Kiss the Ground
Kiss the Ground is an audience-supported nonprofit promoting regeneration and healthy soil as a viable solution for our wellness, water, and climate crisis. Since 2013 we’ve inspired millions to participate in the Regenerative Movement through storytelling, education, and partnerships.
Rodale Institute
Rodale Institute is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit conducting independent research to uncover and share regenerative organic farming practices that restore soil health, fight climate change, and fix the food system.
American Botanical Council
ABC is an independent, nonprofit research and education organization dedicated to providing accurate and reliable information for consumers, healthcare practitioners, researchers, educators, industry and the media.
B-Corp
B Lab is the nonprofit network transforming the global economy to benefit all people, communities, and the planet. Our international network of organizations leads economic systems change to support our collective vision of an inclusive, equitable, and regenerative economy.
American Herbal Products Association
Founded in 1982, the American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) is the national trade association and voice of the herbal and natural products industries. AHPA’s mission is to promote the responsible and sustainable commerce of herbal products to ensure that consumers have informed access to a wide variety of safe herbal goods.
Regenerative Organic Alliance
Quality products start with healthy soil. With regenerative organic agriculture, we can rehabilitate soil, respect animal welfare, and improve the lives of farmers. We can sequester carbon, build healthier communities, and reap more nutritious and abundant yields.
Sustainable Herbs Initiative
The herbs we ingest are inextricably connected to the processes that produce them. This is true for all herbs – and it is especially true for herbs we take for our health. Sustainable herbal medicine simply means herbal products that are produced and consumed in ways that sustain human and environmental health – in ways that are good for people and good for the planet.