Fair Trade Blog

Patricia Lewis, who lives with her canine companion in Canada, has been a good customer. We share a passion for the Arghand Cooperative, which I have written about in the space many times. Patricia started by buying their distinctive soaps from us. Just recently, she bought Arghand scarves that we first began offering earlier this spring.

I ask her to send me some thoughts about her recent purchase and this is what she had to say. 

Discerning shopper?  Travel the world and find the same stores, same malls, selling the same merchandise you find in your local mall at home?  Handcrafted treasures are increasingly going the way of the dinosaur, now pretty much in the stages of the polar bear — threatened.  Cheaper mass-produced, often synthetic assembly-line goods are taking their place.  Our culture, one that clearly embraces uniqueness and individuality, is also disappearing. Doesn’t have to be entirely so.

Make a statement with your purchasing power — support handcrafted treasures made by traditional methods that date back to antiquity, at the same time fuelling little economies that enable people to live self-sufficently and also pass down their dignified crafts to the next generations, who can also take pride in their talents, works of art, and honest labours. 

Celebrate your lovely new purchase and wear it smartly.

Buy smart, dress smart. I like that. Thanks, Patricia.

Keep shopping your good values!

Working with artisans to create new designs for fresh products was one of the great opportunities I had while in Ecuador last January.

We met with many providers in their homes to work on new pieces. While in Otavalo, we treked up a hill on the edge of town to meet with a family that makes jewelry from tagua nut, seeds, and other natural materials.  Christopher, my host, calls their pieces Jungle Jewelry.   The pieces are bright and bold, and sometimes have sophisticated designs.

Both slight, with classic Otavalan features, the couple presented their latest samples for us to study.  After looking at the new designs, lively collaboration began to develop.  Mandy, a college student from Michigan, and Gabriele, one of our guides, graciously agreed to be our models and we began decorating them with piece after piece.

Sample pieces evolve into better designs for a variety of reasons.  Sometimes, slight changes can make a piece more comfortable or practical to wear.  Occasionally, a piece can be changed slightly to make it more exciting or attractive.  At that particular meeting, we began to play with the idea of using Tagua discs with varying cutout shapes as elements in necklaces and bracelets.  That discussion resulted in intriguing new designs for a whole matching set including earrings.

All this hard work benefits everyone involved.  As we were leaving the couple’s home, tired, but eager to see the new samples we had developed, Christopher, pointed out that they had added onto their modest home for their growing family.

Keep shopping your good values!

Is Fair Trade accountable?   Can you trust that when you buy from us, the product you recieve is Fair Trade?  The short answer is yes, though the big picture is more complicated.  

The items we carry come from all over the world and it would be impossible for me to track them all.  That’s why certification organizations like the Fair Trade Labeling Organizations International are so important.

FLO International certifies mostly agricultural producers and workers through 20 certification organizations that joined forces in 2004 to synchronize standards and represent under a single recognizable brand. 

You probably recognize this logo from quite a few Fair Trade products. If you want to view some other Fair Trade logos to look for, check out this Wikipedia entry.

We obtain products primarily through members of the Fair Trade Federation.  That group requires their members to go through an application process that focuses on their Fair Trade practices.  When we offer FTF member products like our colorful blouses from Minga Fair Trade Imports, we can channel that trust to you our customers. 

Unfortunately, there are occasional abuses. Workers may not be paid the standard wages, or products may be labeled as Fair Trade when they are not.  Some unscrupulous behavior is inevitable, but it is light years ahead of a system that generally embraces the bottom line over any other concern.  

Sometimes we decide that we can’t wait for, or don’t need, certification to partner with a cooperative.  We contacted Arghand Cooperative on the suggestion of a customer.  Though they are not certified by any organization, we felt we had to connect you to their wonderful soaps and oils so that this foothold of stability and economic progress in Afghanistan can endure. 

Trust, yet verify, someone once said.   Well, we’re doing both.   

Keep shopping your good values! 

What could make a teddy bear even better?   Make it out of Alpaca fur.  If you get your hands on one of our new bears, just try to put it down! 

White Alpaca fur makes them the softest, warmest bears you’ll ever hold.  Each one is hand made in Ecuador from naturally-grown Alpaca fur.  You can select a small or medium size online, but you have to come to the shop to see the large bears keeping watch in our store.   

If you ladies want to get noticed while out on the town, chose one of our elegant new cocktail rings made close by in Madison, Wis.  Each one features a crystal or faux pearl surrounded by an impressive band of shimmering silver beads.  The band stretches to fit any size finger making them easy to wear. 

Our new tagua heart necklaces are more casual for those informal summer gatherings or simply an everyday accent.  Ecuadorian tagua nut is carved into a heart shape with a swirl through the middle before it is dyed a deep chocolate brown.  It’s a great complement to our breezy, colorful blouses.  

Come back soon to see more fairly traded, distinctive, handmade merchandize from around the world.

Keep shopping your good values! 

Though spring is having a hard time arriving here in the upper Midwest, it’s definitely spring in our store.  We did a photo shoot to bring you our new spring and summer clothing.  I had great fun with our models Andrew and Rain along with our photographer Rebecca. 

It was a welcome bright spot on a cold, rainy day.  

Our new blouses are just the thing for those warm days now arriving.  Handmade embroidery on fantastic colors including reds, blues, greens, and yellows highlight our breezy new selection. 

We have new “pirate” shirts to bring out the scoundrel in the guys.  Our men’s short sleeve shirts come in traditional blue, white, and ivory.  

For your warm weather walk about, we have colorful shoulder bags for guys or gals that include roomy pockets and casual style.  Very comfortable!

Our jewelry selection now includes a wonderful single-bloosom necklace carved from Tagua nut.   The selection of colors will help you compliment any outfit.   We found out at our shoot that they go particularly well with our new blouses. 

Keep shopping your good values! 

You could say Sandi Funk is a little twisted when it comes to everyday household items.  Take silverware, for example.  Most are content to simply eat with it, but Sandi sees all kinds of characters and scenes in your typical table knife, spoon, or serving utensil. Her handcrafted Funkyware is whimsical, surprising, and, yes, a little off the wall. Each “personality” is a true work of art.  

Sandi’s work is on display in our shop this week as our featured artist for March.

Sandi is a local girl who milked cows and ran a grocery store right here in the Driftless region before she moved with her husband to central Florida.

It is rumored that the artistic bug bit Sandi while she was in college in DeKalb, Ill., at Northern Illinois University.  That was where she owned and ran a coffee house, Juicy John Pink’s, with her husband Mike.  They often had guest artists play or display their work in their java joint. 

Her work extends beyond Funkyware to her love of stain-glass work. Check out her beautiful sun catchers featured in our windows.  

Come in and check out Sandi’s work.

Keep shopping your good values!

Kile

If you ever wondered whether you could actually put together an entire outfit using fairly traded clothing, the answer is now yes.  The availability of Fair Trade clothing items has recently literally exploded including everything from sneakers to jeans to handmade sweaters and blouses. 

In our shop, we carry a wide variety of fairly traded clothing from Central and South America which led to a brief style show here in our home town of Viroqua.  I spoke at the Business and Professional Women’s Association meeting November 13.  No one likes a dry talk, and since a picture is worth a thousand words, I decided to show, rather than tell, the story of our wonderful handmade clothing.

I recruited five professional women from the area and invited them to pick an outfit for the style show.  Bette, for example, a Property Manager and Marketing Manager for a local assisted living facility, chose an avocado green shirt with matching sweater, contrasting scarf, glittens (mitten/glove combo) and finished it off with bold yellow beaded earrings.

My models were super — a little too “super” as it turned out.  Nicki, an employment specialist with VARC, stole the show.  “And now for the story of five women who recently became supermodels,” I began.  “He’s starving us!” Nicki whined.  The room broke up and I had to collect myself to continue.  Oh well… we’re all still talking and laughing about it, so it was worth the little jab at my expense.

Back to clothing, we have soft organic cotton T-shirts from Nicaragua, handmade sweaters for men and women from Ecuador, and accessories from around the world.  Check out FairTradeFederation.org for other great retail sources for pants, shirts and blouses, shoes, hats, accessories, and other clothing.

The next time you put on your clothes, make sure you are dressing with Fair Trade.

Keep shopping your good values! 

Kile