Ethical Fashion Blog

Emails from India and a Loooooooooooooooooong shanti letter
Michelle, Maureen, and I first went to India in December 2003 and spent 4 months backpacking the country as part of a longer round-the-world adventure.  We stayed in touch with our friends and family back home through a new communication technology known as the group email.  On that trip, Maureen fell in love…with shopping in India.  She started Mata Traders, and has returned every year since.  We’ll be posting excerpts from past emails to share some of our first experiences and impressions of India.
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Fair Trade Indian tea

Up around the hill station town of Munnar in the southern state of Kerala, we ran into these ladies who pick tea leaves.  For a day’s work they’ll earn less than a dollar.  The tea trade continues to keep the poorest people in the supply chain – the growers and pickers in developing countries – in poverty.  Tea producers today receive only half of what they did 30 years ago for their crop.

 

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Fair Trade Futures Conference
From September 10-12, 2010, the Fair Trade Futures Conference will bring together entrepreneurs, students, advocates, faith community members, concerned citizens, interested individuals, and others in Boston, MA for the largest Fair Trade event in North American history!
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Everybody needs an Auntie

“Surita Auntiiiieeee!”

This is a common call at our women’s cooperative in Mumbai and is usually shouted out in a high-pitched Hindi lilt.  What is Surita Auntie’s job description?

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