As market dynamics and government regulations converge to confine social and solidarity economics (referred to here as "fair-trade-related activities" or FTEA) to the marginalized role of social repair, this paper proposes to accept non-market and non-competitive exchanges as a legitimate form of economic activity that can bring about new equilibrium points based on reciprocity principles. Implemented first through the non-competitive allocation of public contracts, together with a range of social innovations concerning the wage-earner status and financing, could improve the social evaluation of associative action and broaden the FTEA scope, which in turn would enable non-market (and non public) alternatives to the current commercialized society.