Today is October! You know what that means…Fair Trade Month is here!
Ethical Fashion Blog
Cozy sweaters! Yummy scarves! The coolest boots! Fall is arriving, ladies. The trends are fun and wearable, especially with Mata Traders to back you up…
What do Mata Traders and West Elm have in common? Our good friend and fair trade advocate Jenny Gootman! We met Jenny through her previous position as the Executive Director for Global Goods Partners; she has been a part of the fair trade community for quite a while now. Nowadays, Jenny works as the Director of Social Consciousness and Innovation at West Elm. We think she’s a rockstar, so we interviewed her about her current position and her thoughts on fair trade.
When planning our nuptials, we knew we wanted something small and personal. And since we decided to have the wedding at my in-laws’ Montana home, the small part was taken care of – the guest list could only get to 60 in order for everyone to fit on the patio and eat dinner (that’s 30 a piece for each of our families – yikes!). I also wanted to incorporate as many fair trade elements as I could, starting with the dress.
Hi, all. You might have heard by now, but we’ve ventured up to the land of milk and beer. We’ll be at Summerfest in Milwaukee for the next almost-week, and we’d love to see you!
As any fair trader knows, running a business like this is hard work! There are Skype calls, sketching, stacking, packing, the list goes on and on. At times you get so caught up in the day to day that you lose sight of the big picture, and with all of this moving and planning going on, things got a little hectic. We realized we’d been our new office for two months and there was no evidence of what we stand for in the space itself. Yes, our products are here, and yes, we’ve got some photos up, but what about the umbrella of our mission as a whole? What does fair trade mean, and how can we be reminded of it daily?
Have time on your hands and need some new digs? In search of a few hours of meaningful job-doing and could use a fresh pair of earrings? Well you’re in luck!
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You might remember when this happened a couple years ago, but it happened again. Mata Traders was on NPR!
We had a booth in Daley Plaza, right here in Chicago, for the World Fair Trade Day event. There were lots of vendors, several people spoke, and WBEZ’s Worldview with Jerome McDonald was recording live, so Maureen was on the radio!
“Have you ever put something on and felt it was made just for you?” asks fair trade fashionista Shannon, ’cause that’s how she felt in our Rain or Shine dress!
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You may have noticed from the (ware)housewarming party invites that we recently moved into a new space! It’s more than double the size of our old office/warehouse so we’ve been itching to fill it with people and celebrate!
Did you know we’re on Instagram? Stay up to date and get behind the scenes by following us there!
Travel expert Kendra Thornton has a challenge a lot of us can relate to; day-to-day a busy lady and mom of three, she needs the perfect outfit for a night of fun on a trip to New York City! We put together two style boards that would work perfectly for a night out with her friends. Most importantly, both outfits are from fair trade, ethical, and eco-friendly brands. Conscious spending is the best spending!
As most of you already know, our garments are all individually stitched in small workshops, with one seamstress creating an entire garment rather than repeating the same small action over and over again like in a factory production line. Many styles are then carefully finished with hand embroidery in the women’s own homes. They put a lot of time and care into the pieces they make.
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I’ve been counting down the days of winter and now that the snow has cleared (in most places, sorry Chicago), I’m ready for spring fashion! Here are some of the top trends for spring that I’ll be incorporating into my looks:
Here at Mata we are firm believers in fair trade and advocates of human rights, which is why we wanted to spend a little time talking about one of the most important issues of 2014, the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The TPP is an international trade agreement in negotiations between the United States and 11 other Pacific Rim countries. It is known as “NAFTA on steroids,” and if it passes the TPP will be the biggest trade agreement ever.
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