Posts with tag fair trade

We doubt anybody is unaware that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but did you know that it's also Fair Trade Month? Cat brought us the scoop last week on Pangea Collection's fabulous Sterling Silver Heart Bracelet -- for every one purchased, $10 will go toward breast cancer research. But Pangea is doing more.

Throughout this entire month, Pangea Collection will donate $1 from any Fair Trade Jewelry order to Opportunity International, one of the largest micro-finance organizations supporting Fair Trade in the world. Prices are extremely reasonable, with most pieces being in the $20 to $30 range, which means they'd be a great little gift for a friend, or a gorgeous little pick-me-up for you!

Pangea Collection is a great place to find beautiful jewelry from all over the world. On the site you can shop a wide variety of collections from Thailand, Bali, Kenya, and Chile, just to name a few.

It's also an ethically managed site. The founder, Patricia Pinkney, only works with Fair Trade organizations, making sure that the artisans who create the jewelry are fairly compensated for their work. She also make a point of finding crafts made by women in emerging markets, and helping them by creating a market for their work.

As part of their support for women all over the world, and in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Pangea Collection is donating $10 to breast cancer research for each of these beautiful sterling silver heart bracelets sold in October.

The bracelet is handcrafted by the talented silversmiths of Taxco, Mexico. The classic style goes with every kind of outfit, and shows that you support breast cancer awareness, year round.

Thanks to our friends over at TONIC News, we were just tipped off to the ethically sexy underwear from Pants to Poverty.

The British brand was inspired by Nelson Mandela, and started out almost as a lark, with 12,000 organic undies in someone's garage. They brought the panties to the Glastonbury Festival, then held a flash mob of people in their Pants to Poverty briefs, and moved on to the G8 Rally in Edinburgh.

By the end of the first year, they'd almost sold out the entire supply from the garage, and in the process raised a serious amount of awareness about poverty.

Here's an idea: luxurious base-layer clothing (translation: underwear) that is super comfortable and uses nanotechnology to prevent odor.

Don't go running to the patent office. Pooghe Laundry already did it, and they somehow even made it sexy, too!

Pooghe uses a high tech method called "SmartSilver" that puts silver ions actually in the fabric. When the ions are released, they kill the bacteria from perspiration and voila, no odor.

The line includes men's and women's underwear, long and short sleeve tees, camisoles, socks, tank tops, leggings and compression cold weather apparel, all made from soft Supima cotton. The founder, Steve Monte, manufactures everything in the US, ensuring that all production is sweatshop-free and Fair Trade.

All good things. But really, we all want to see what it looks like on. In the gallery, scantily clad models who we can be sure smell as good as they look.

By this point we've all heard how important it is to buy eco-friendly products, and that includes fashion. But is it all just hype? Just another marketing gimmick employed by corporate America to try and get us to spend more dollars but feel less guilty about doing it? Many companies have been accused of greenwashing, and it's certainly true that buy buy buy is not the way to help our environment.

No matter what though, people will always want to dress in a way that makes them feel good about the way they look. We shouldn't have to compromise style in our quest to save the planet. Sure, we need to adjust our habits, but that doesn't mean that we'll all end up looking like a bunch of dirty hippies. Here's our list of the top 5 ways to really green up your wardrobe.

Seattle based Kate Quinn Organics, previously known as Earth Organic Baby Basics, is a parent's dream. That is assuming said parent wants "the softest, most natural materials" for their baby's comfort, and "the highest quality design and construction, and most importantly, the hope of a cleaner, kinder earth." If the parent wants all that, and you know that they do, then they can't go wrong with Kate Quinn.

The designs are created using "simple, elegant lines" and are available in nature-inspired hues to highlight the natural beauty of a child.

Want to save the Earth and still look good doing it? Check out Eco-Tobi's full range of styles for men & women, featuring earth-friendly clothing & accessory brands like Edun, Loomstate, Envirosax and more. Organic beauty products are also available, and all purchases are shipped in 100% recycled materials. They've also joined forces with Carbonfund.org to completely offset the emissions of their operation, so you don't have to feel too guilty about shopping here. Did we mention how much cute stuff they have? Just check out some of their offerings below:

Normally we find a product that we like and say a few words about who they are and what they do. Then we make a joke or some other quip that either cheers or jeers the company, their respective product and all of their hard work. It's a living.

In the case of Clothing of the American Mind, a company that sells t-shirts as a means of changing the world, we'll let them describe themselves:

Wild Dill was created by Jennifer who signs her bio "Wife and Mother of Wild Men." We love that. She created Wild Dill to reflect the "sense of curiosity and wonder for everything that is natural and wild." They "carry only natural, organic, fair trade, made in the USA/Europe, or recycled clothing, toys, bedding and furniture for babies and toddlers."

All of it is wonderful. See for yourself:

The holidays are a time to give and receive -- and fair trade fashion label Tam & Rob is making it easy to do just that.

This holiday season Tam & Rob are running brand new campaign called 'Buy One Give One'. Unlike most other 'Buy One' promotions you aren't getting a second item from their store for free! Because lets be honest, you usually keep the freebie for yourself (at least I do) instead of giving it as a gift.

When you visit Tam & Rob's online boutique, for every product you purchase before Christmas day, a sari will be donated through the charity called Social Action for Association and Development (SAAD) in India.

Not a bad deal huh? You get to buy yourself a great looking piece of fair trade clothing (which that feels good on it's own) and someone in need receives a gift too.

If you need a little help deciding what to buy, here are some of my favorites.

I have a soul, and a conscience, so the thought of buying things made by near-starving children who get paid $3 a day in developing countries is hard for me to stomach. Hence, I'm draw to the idea of fair trade goods.

Unfortunately, it seems like the only fair trade products I ever run into are potato-sack skirts decorated excessively with beads, wood-carvings of elephants and a wide variety of products made from hemp. Plus, these products are inevitably sold by a store with "Earth" or "Mother" in it's name -- so if I'm even thinking about buying something, I have to put up with patchouli stench, world music, and all that other irritating new age stuff.

Fortunately, there's hope. The UK's Guardian newspaper has put together a photo essay called "Ethical bling," that's comprised entirely of fair trade jewelery. Some of it's a little hippy-dippy, but for the most part, these are all cute pieces that you can wear without looking like you work at your local leftist coffee shop.

Not that there's anything wrong with hippies, coffee shops, or world music -- I'm just happy there's something out there for the rest of us.