SFAC Now on Fusings

Shopping for a Change (SFAC) is now featured on a new social media company called FUSINGS. FUSINGS provides a way for professionals and organizations to "fuse" together the ideas that form their philosophy and the WHY behind what they do. FUSINGS allows members to show what they think about core topics, present an expression of their personal or organization's brand while providing credibility and a way to express authenticity. FUSINGS discovered SFAC on the website Great Nonprofits, and offered to create the SFAC Fuse so that Shopping for a Change had the best appearance possible.
Shopping for a Change offers exquisite, fair trade home decor products designed to accentuate the beauty of your home. Handcrafted by 3rd world artisans, our green sustainable products include fair trade trays, pillows, bowls, baskets, mats. SFAC features a unique line of handcrafted socially conscious items perfect for your home or as a special one-of-a-kind gift. Crafted in Asian, African, and South American countries, our fashionable accent pieces find their roots in ethnic and contemporary patterns. Each item embraces a cultural identity and earns a fair salary for the artisan's work. Feel good about your purchase from SFAC--when sold our products assist 3rd world communities.

Fair Trade Apparel Certification On Its Way

Fair Trade USA, a nonprofit organization that certifies that products made in developing countries meet pre-determined standards related to wages and environmental impact, is several years into an effort to bring its standards to the clothing industry. Apparel laborers in developing countries are often drastically underpaid, work long hours without time off and are frequently underage, says Heather Franzese, who developed the Fair Trade USA's apparel program. In her work, Franzese has discovered horrible factory conditions, including workers exposed to toxic chemicals and polluted air. In some countries, such as Malaysia, workers emigrate from other countries, and have their passports withheld by the factory owners. They are then forced to work, what Franzese called "bonded labor."
It is with an understanding of these injustices that Franzese developed the Fair Trade USA model for clothing suppliers. For factories to be certified, they must train the workers and managers, go through an audit of conditions once a year, and implement necessary changes which satisfy Fair Trade requirements. All employees at Fair Trade certified factories receive a Fair Trade "premium" paid by the brand hiring the supply services. That extra money goes into a single, collective bank account which factory laborers control. The workers are responsible for deciding whether they will use their Fair Trade premium for a community need or pay it out as a cash bonus to each employee.
Shopping for a Change partners with manufacturers in 23 different countries, providing excellent working conditions and fair wages. Our fair trade accessories bring a wide range of high-quality items from artisan crafters located in 3 continents. From Asia, Africa, South America these accessories are modern, fashionable, and are perfect for any occasion. These stunning, handcrafted, eco-friendly accessories present the best green shopping gifts for you. Perfect for you or as a gift. The limited editions offered at Shopping for a Change are from natural, sustainable materials such as alpaca; cashmere; cotton; metals; leather; and wool. Creative techniques include knitting, crocheting, hand-looming, leather-smithing and weaving.

Rare Live Event...Save the Date!

Shopping for a Change Celebrates Fair Trade Month

October is Fair Trade Month. Fair Trade USA, a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization, is the foremost third-party certifier of Fair Trade products in the U.S. They enable consumers to make a difference with their donations. Fair Trade USA helps create healthy people and a sustainable planet. They provide farmers in developing nations the tools they need to grow as international business people. Fair Trade USA uses a market-based approach that encourages independence while providing farmers with fair prices, workers with safe conditions, and entire communities resources for fair, healthy and sustainable lives. Fair Trade USA seeks to eliminate exploitation and to create conscious consumers.

This week, Shopping for a Change welcomes four new artisan groups: PACT, Mushana, Mushmina and Dsenyo.

PACT is a fair trade clothing business specializing in the manufacturing of socks, apparel and packaging in Turkey. Their cotton is sourced from a single organic cotton cooperative across 3 states of India. This encompasses over 10,000 farmers who are shareholders and practice non-GMO organic farming.

Mushana, was founded in 2009 by Angela Tucci Robinson. Through ethical consumerism, their vision is to build lasting bonds, while creating a lifestyle brand that would allow artisan men and women in Ugandan communities to connect with U.S. consumers.

Founded by sisters Heather and Katie O’Neill, Mushmina's mission is to create fair trade products with cultural integrity and soul. The sisters provide employment opportunities for both male and female artisans through workshops and small businesses in Morocco, who specialize in metal-smithing, leather-working and textile production.

Marissa Perry Saint founded the social enterprise Dsenyo, with a focus on African textiles. Dsenyo works directly with 120 women and artisans in Malawi and Northeastern Brazil to create a line of exclusive fair trade gifts. Dsenyo not only creates jobs-- they also donate 3% of sales to community development projects in Malawi and collaborate with nonprofits to assist them in raising money for their causes.
Take a look at some of our new accessory items here.

Amanda Judge Interview (Part Five)

Amanda Judge Interview (Part Five)

By Ariana

The final section of our interview delves into the Shopping for a Change and Faire Collection Nutritional Empowerment Project, the life-changing benefits Amanda provides her artisans and the inspirational story of Olga, a former Faire Collection artisan.

The fabulous Amanda Judge left all of us wowed with her humility, grace, and passion for her work. She has come a long way from her roots as a college student, visiting Ecuador for the sole purpose of writing a strong Master’s Theses on poverty reduction strategies in rural South America. To read about the origins of the Faire collection, visit Eleanor’s earlier post, part one. 

“I’ve read that you provide your artisans with more long term benefits such as scholarship programs, a no-interest loan system, and an emergency relief program along with a trained member to aid artisans in long-term investments in education and technology. Are some artisans hesitant with leaving older values behind or are reactions mostly optimistic?”

Coming from a traditional family myself, it came to me as a little bit of a surprise when Amanda informed me that a good portion of families aren’t reluctant to abandon old customs, such as marrying off young girls without regard to their education. Instead, most artisans are “really excited” to progress towards an improved lifestyle with a stronger chance at an optimistic future. “Fortunately, most artisan families are just really grateful!” exclaims Amanda. 

Ariana models the Playita Neckalce
by the Faire Collection.

From some previous research, I had discovered that the Faire Collection heavily involves artisans from the Kichwa tribe. A little confused, I asked Amanda to help define what the term “Kichwa” really refers to: the culture, the people, the language, or the location? The “Kichwa” is actually more of an umbrella term, it’s a culture that encompasses a variety of groups. Amanda expands, “The Kichwa people that we work with in the Amazon are very different culturally than the Kichwa people we work with in the Andes Mountains, and they’re both called Kichwa. So the location of the tribe really defines the culture...and the language is different.” Out of curiosity, I asked her how she stumbled upon this main group. With her strong connections, a friend was able to inform Amanda about the Kichwa. And she was very glad about it, too, “Our companies to work together on very different aspects to bring holistic improvements to the community.”  Luckily for us, Shopping for a Change and the Faire Collection are working together in the Nutritional Empowerment Project which will commence at the beginning of 2013, and it’s great that the Kichwa are “becoming excited” as they continue learn more about it.

Since Amanda has had so much experience with her artisans, I knew I had to ask about a special success story she’s come across. She smiles as she reminisces, “The story of Olga is really cool, her family was living off of less than one dollar a day, and then in 2010, only 2 years after they started working with us, they were making $26/a day. So they’re income increased dramatically by 200%. She got to the point where we gave her a no-interest loan to start her own store. She actually made the decision to stop working with the Andean [Faire] Collection and just run her store, because we were able to start her. And I love that story because the idea is not for us to entrap artisans in only being able to work for us, but to be able to lift them up to a different level so they can make decisions on about what’s best for them.” Sounds pretty generous to us, what do you think? Leave a comment on your thoughts below!

Hi all! I’m Ariana. Apart from being a junior in high school, I am also an intern at Shopping for a Change this summer. I’ve learned so much about the marketing world and I look forward to the rest of the summer with Stacey and the rest of the interns. I love multicultural food, playing different instruments, and pretty much anything and everything Nintendo! I hope you enjoy reading our blog posts, we’ve definitely enjoyed writing them.