4 Compelling Reasons for Fair Trade Clothing Products

When you’re considering shopping fair trade, here is a convenient and engaging list of 4 perspectives that speak to fair trade purchasing. Here at SFAC we follow these observations with diligence and joy.

1.)  More money is delivered through fair trade to the individuals producing the clothing. The mainstream clothing industry is notorious for low pay and abusive conditions for workers. Fair trade means there is fair pay that constitutes a living wage for the craftspeople who make the clothes you’re buying.

2.)  The Fair Trade clothing industry focuses on women’s equal rights. Often fair trade companies work directly with the artisans as participants in making decisions that affect their livelihood, prospects and community. This quality of empowerment is important to the cultivation of these people’s pride and situation in life. One of the foremost intentions of fair trade is to develop equal rights for women, and it is highly successful at this.

3.)  Worker satisfaction is high and turnover is low. In the fair trade workplace of small factories or cottage industry the workers are very satisfied with their work, wages and work conditions. Job retention is very high.

4.)  Protecting the environment alongside supporting workers. Fair trade clothing is manufactured with eco friendly practices, meaning the environment is not abused along the chain of the manufacturing process. Many items are organic, meaning the custodianship and replenishing for the soil is all authentically natural.

Click here to visit the latest in sales and additions to our fair trade apparel. Don’t miss out of our ultra soft cotton one size fits all  P.J. pants, and back by popular demand, Original Button Wraps. These items are handmade and are perfect as gifts, or for yourself.

Enjoy your shopping and be sure to recommend us to your friends. Shopping for a Change is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization.

SFAC 2014 Funding Helps Launch 2 Preschools in Bangladesh

A significant part of our nonprofit monies raised from sales at Shopping for a Change goes to community improvement projects, alongside of paying fair wages to the artisans who craft the products we carry in our online store. We are very proud to announce that two preschools we helped to fund with last year’s sales opened on February 8, 2015, in Bangladesh.

The two schools are located at Cox’s Bazar, a seaside and fishing town on the southwestern coast of Bangladesh, on the Bay of Bengal. Cox’s Bazar’s claim to fame is that it has the world’s longest, uninterrupted sand beach, stretching for 75 miles. The schools are part of two knitting centers opened by Hathay Bunano, the nonprofit arm of Pebble, in December 2014 in collaboration with Winrock International, under the CREL project (Climate Resistant Environment and Livelihoods project) funded by USAID.  

The training for the women at the centers has just concluded this month and they will now start actual production of knitted products. Now their children ages 3-6 years old, can attend the two preschools. The first school will open with 20 children, with plans to have more in the future. Similar numbers of students will attend the second school. Here is a link to a YouTube video on the project.

We feature wonderful baby products from Pebble, from knitted hats to knitted play toys and rattles. Some of these items are now on sale. Please visit our baby page here  to view our collection, including these Bangladeshi women’s offerings.

Enjoy your shopping and be sure to recommend us to your friends. Shopping for a Change is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization.