Dust off your flips flops and grab the sunnies – your escape from winter doldrums has arrived. Meet Mata’s new Spring/Summer 2017 collection!
Ethical Fashion Blog
If you know the story of Mata, you know that us Mata folk love to travel. We love it a lot, and I personally try to take advantage of every opportunity I have to go out into the world to explore. I’m the kind of person who will drop everything and move to Mexico for a year (to teach English) or embark on a round-the-world adventure with 2 friends (that’s how Mata started).
If you’ve ever read up on how Mata Traders was started, you know we have a giant soft spot for travel. Giant.
It’s spring! We’ve all been working a lot! Time for a vacation.
I took a week off and jetted to Norway and the Netherlands, overly excited to bring some pieces from our new collection to explore unfamiliar cities and towns in style.
Team Mata is heading to India on Monday to work on the 2014 collections. Will there be more elephant rides in store?
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We love traveling, here at Mata. So much to see, so much to eat, so much to absorb! Our trips to India are always the perfect combination of excitement and relaxation.
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The 5th Annual Fair Trade Photo Contest has begun, and we need your vote! The contest is hosted by the Fair Trade Resource Network, voting is free and easy (no sign-ups), and you get to vote for your 5 favorite entries. The winners are featured in the 2014 Fair Trade Calendar, and man, do we want to be in that calendar!
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“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” – Mark Twain
Start here – buy a Lonely Planet Peru and you’re off on your honeymoon! In Dec. of 2011 my husband and I landed in Lima and loved it immediately – check out Second Home Peru, the best bed and breakfast in town and once home to Victor Delfin, artist extraordinaire. His sculpture The Kiss sits smack dab on the ocean in “Love Park” in Lima’s Miraflores district.
After graduating college in 2010, midwestern girl Kat Vallera knew what she wanted to do – see the world – and she signed up to teach music at a Thai kindergarden. Her carefully arranged plan didn’t go as expected when the school turned out to be a nightmare. The teachers were completely strict to the point of being abusive. “I watched helplessly as my Thai teacher took every ounce of fun and creativity out of music and replaced it with some kind of cut and dry exact science that these five-year-old children were expected to perfect, or else face punishment,” Kat says.
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Hettal married Suraj in the traditional manner of an Indian bride – bedazzled in an embroidered pink wedding sari, forearm to fingertip decorated with intricate henna designs. But their love story is anything but traditional. In a society where arranged marriage is the norm, Hettal and Suraj chose each other. And, like the plot of a Bollywood movie, Hettal’s parents didn’t approve. You see, Hettal is Hindu and Suraj is Buddhist.
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This post will be a recurring segment to highlight just how colorful India really is. If you like these, I encourage you to visit our Photos page (top right sidebar) to see the best of the best photos from our travels. India is a very colorful place indeed.
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Selecting Chennai – India’s fourth-ish largest city – as our port of entry into India is comparable to the average European deciding to launch their American tour from Detroit. It is a city one would normally not visit unless, well, unless you had to… We’ve crossed the peninsula from east to west via the Cardamom Hills in the Western Ghats, and our arrival in Kochi, Kerala was much anticipated. Kochi is a seaside town full of travelers (imagine even the western men wearing colorful head scarves to hide the dirty hair days) w/ a Jewish quarter, two churches, and a semi-posh coffee shop to hideout in.
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Most Indian women decorate their face, be it w/ yellow facial dye or a multitude of multi-colored dots. We’ve visited enough temples to recognize that the process of getting dotted is much like taking communion in the Methodist church, where everyone is invited. A shirtless Brahmin w/ exposed chest hair and three wide white lines painted on his forehead holds a tray supporting a flaming oil lamp of sorts. The Hindus stand in line, and when it is their turn run their hands lightly through the flame, take a bit of colored dust (rice powder) from the Brahmin’s hand into their own and place a mark on the middle of their forehead, on the bridge of their nose, and also on their neck/throat.
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Something you really don’t see in the U.S. is the family motorbike ride. I was determined to get a few shots this time in India.
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Mata means mother in Hindi, and we are always inspired by the strength and dedication of the mothers we meet in India.
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