Shopping for a Change^® Summer Internship Opportunity

Shopping for aChange®, a non-profit organization, is a fair trade marketplace where artisans, predominantly women from developing countries, sell their handmade creations, enabling them to earn a sustainable income and lift themselves from poverty. Our net proceeds subsidize community improvement projects abroad as well as help fund select U.S.-based charities.

We are an all-volunteer organization and have no paid employees. Now into our fifth year online, we are preparing to add an exciting new facet to our growing e-commerce business. We are looking for a one or two select individuals to work side by side with the president and founder, to help launch and maintain this new division, and to manage various other projects.

Responsibilities may include:

·      Creating new product pages weekly, via the easy to learn templates and apps built into
    the back end of our Shopify-based website.

·      Editing photos that will be used for the website.
·      Creating graphic oriented email blasts using Vertical Response.

·      Conducting interviews via Skype.

·      Creative writing.

·      Online research.

·      Photography and modeling.

·      Helping curate artisan goods for our website.

You:

·      Are able to work weekday afternoons this summer from 12-4 P.M.

·      Are extremely organized.

·      Know how to edit digital photos, compose creative images that include text, and have the software to do so on your computer.

·      Are a strong creative writer.

·      Have great fashion sense.

·      Are a skilled photographer.

·      Are quick to pick up on technology that has a strong intuitive aspect to it.

·      Are a go-getter who can take instruction and run with it.

·      Are able to think on your feet and aren't afraid to offer your respectful opinion.

·      Are not afraid to ask questions.

·      Are extremely responsible and willing to work hard.

·      Have a laptop you can always bring to work.

·      Have reliable transportation to our home office in San Mateo.

·      Are interested in getting real world work experience while knowing what you are doing in making a huge difference in the lives of others around the world who are far less fortunate than yourself.

If you are a rising high school junior or older, and possess most or all of the skills mentioned above, and are interested in working with us, please send your resume, cover letter and creative writing sample to Stacey@shoppingforachange.org right away. Our internship positions fill quickly and are offering fewer positions this year.

There is some flexibility in our dates. If you are taking a family vacation we may be able to work around it.  We anticipate beginning Monday, June 15-Friday, August 14^th.

www.shoppingforachange.org

Focusing on Design and Quality in the Next Evolution of Fair Trade

The textile and garment fashion industry is, of course, about fashion: the season’s designs that capture a meme, statement, novelty or ethnic motif that creates beauty in the eye of the beholder. Fashion is an enormous aesthetic and mercantile world. And fair trade fashion is growing up rapidly in that world as the evolution of design in the fair trade products lines is producing very attractive looks.

This is our daily aspiration at Shopping for a Change: to curate high fashion, well made products into our collections of handbags and purses, accessories, wraps and scarves, jewelry, apparel, and even baby items. In the selection process for our products we are looking at hundreds of options. Once we have confirmed they are made following fair trade principles, our highest criteria is the design, look, and feel of the product. It has to have a certain fashionable and inspiring look, and often our repeat customers (familiar with the fashion design world) are invited to participate in our selection process. Next, we are looking for quality. Not just any quality that says this product is okay to sell, but one whereby you can easily ascertain the fine level of materials and work(wo)manship. Our products are built to withstand normal wear and tear with use as one of your favorite items.

Fair trade textile and garment products don’t have to be dull. They can sizzle with design innovation and beauty while also paying fair wages to their makers and being eco friendly to the environment and ecology.

Please click here to take a look at our purse and handbag collection. They are right out of a fashion magazine, and several have been featured in travel magazines and holiday gift magazines.

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

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.

How to Shop Fair Trade for Very Good Buys

Looking for the best buys on jewelry items (including trending tagua nut jewelry), laptop cases, or how about a gorgeous hobo bag?

The fair trade manufactured products (as opposed to food products) industry has arrived at the stage where marked down sales on items are a great opportunity to buy eco friendly products that are hand made and pay fairly to the individuals who craft them in economically developing countries. Good prices can mean a lot of savings on items for you or for gift-giving occasions in the near or far future.

Now in early 2015 it is an excellent time for seasonal sales as there are many items being marked down so that inventory is sold to make way for new items. Our SFAC online store has one of the best selections of fair trade clearance sale items you’ll find. In fact under searches for fair trade clearance sales our site comes up at the top of page 1 on Google.

We’ve marked down items from 10% to 90%—including home décor, accessories, necklaces, bracelets, earrings, wraps and scarves, and more. There are dozens of jewelry pieces for your browsing—all at bargain  prices. Our sale items are fashionable, exciting and very affordable.

Please visit our clearance sale page and be sure to tell all your friends about it. Remember we are nonprofit, so much more goes back to the artisans and other nonprofit-benefited projects in the US.

PACT Baby Clothes Now Fair Trade Certified

When the PACT fair trade manufacturer from Turkey expanded out of its successful women’s and men’s underwear and sock lines into baby wear we were excited. We picked up their line of onesies (with matching socks) for babies: super soft, organic cotton, for boys or girls, no pesticides, fertilizers or bleach is used.  They don’t use sweatshops and pay a good living wage to the artisans who work for them. We couldn’t resist these adorable pieces and they’ve been selling well since we brought them into our baby collection.

Now PACT has been officially Fair Trade Certified (FTC), an extremely demanding designation to achieve. PACT is already GOTS certified as a brand with factories that feature clean, safe workplaces that also have a light footprint on the environment. Now they are FTC and can boast having more FTC products than any other brand in the US.

Fair Trade Certification is given when a brand is recognized for outstanding empowerment to its workers, with putting more money directly into their hands for upwards mobility to a better standard of living.

Shop our baby collection for these adorable onesies and our other quality made, eco friendly products for infants and toddlers. Please share our site with your friends! We are a terrific resource for unique baby shower gifts and darling items to lavish upon the young’uns in your lives.

Wearing Fashion That Reflects Your True Self

Fashion is about expressing who you are in apparel and accessories, right? Our look is an extension of who we are on the inside, and/or who we identify with in the world (which is part of who we are on the inside). Fair trade fashion, as many commentators have pointed out, represents who we are ethically, intellectually and emotionally. For some, it speaks to our spiritual identity.

In an article on the website Triple Pundit there is the observation that: Welcome to the world of fashion and the daily ritual of wearing a piece of apparel every day that has the potential to “define” you. Now we look at the power of fashion to define and transform the individual from the inside, too. Ponder for a moment the ability to connect with people and planet through our clothes — what would you say to this? In reality, this concept is absent in our daily conversation because brands and companies that produce, market and sell clothing today have kept this information from us; they have denied it as a priority and denounced the impact that this information can have on the overall shopping and purchasing decision we as consumers make on a daily basis. Every day we wear a piece of clothing that has touched several people along the way. It is something most of us take for granted. Perhaps it’s time to revisit this journey, to step back and ponder how aligned each piece of clothing is to our own values. Let’s celebrate the fact that fashion has the potential to connect us in deeper and more profound ways.

Here at SFAC we believe that what you wear or put on or display in your home or dress your kids in does deeply reflect who you are. From this perspective we endeavor to bring the best collections—both in beauty and quality—for your shopping and ethical pleasure. Please enjoy visiting our online store here. And remember we are nonprofit, meaning your fair trade purchase goes much further than a profit-based fair trade store.