For your mom? A yummy scented candle from Bright Endeavors. For your dad? A bottle of delicious olive oil from Canaan Fair Trade. For your sister? The coolest earrings from Sandpiper Imports. For your brother? Bamboo iPhone speakers from Greenheart Shop. For your niece? The softest mofo teddy bear you’ve ever felt in your life, also from Greenheart Shop.
Ethical Fashion Blog
On this day of giving thanks, we’d be remiss if we didn’t voice our heartfelt thanks to you, our customers. From all of us at Mata Traders and the artisans we partner with, we thank you for your support!
Big news this year for Chicago Fair Trade: we passed an ordinance in Chicago that will restrict the use of sweatshops in the production of apparel purchased by the city.
We’re winding down our favorite month of the year, and though it’s a bummer, there’s still a week left!
We’re keeping the Fair Trade Month love (and free stuff!) going, with the third week of giveaways!
Marisa Noelle, creator of The Shades of Monet Chronicles blog and Mata enthusiast, did an exceptional job remixing our Summerfest dress in four stylish ways. We couldn’t wait to share her creativity!
If you haven’t heard, October is Fair Trade Month! An in an effort to collaboratively celebrate, we’ve decided to bring you an entire month of giveaways–a new one each week.
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!