Ethical Fashion Blog

In May 2009, Sheena Matheiken put on a little black dress and didn’t take it off for a year. Well, that’s not exactly accurate because I’m sure she took it off to sleep and wash, but the point is that she wore that dress everyday for a year and ended up raising over $100,000 for the charity Akanksha Foundation.

COLORFUL INDIA

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.

VISITING THE BLOCKPRINTERS

Maureen and Kristin are in India at the moment working with the co-ops on next Spring’s collection and even getting started on Fall 2012. This past weekend they visited one of the block printers where we source our fabric. Maureen said they got a lot of great photos and video, and it motivated me to finally get these pictures up from last summer when Michelle and I visited another block printer we use.

PETITION FOR JUSTICE

If you’re a fan of Mata Traders, you probably care about how your clothes were made. It’s true that all over the world, people are being exploited – or worse – making the clothing that we wear everyday.

STRETCHING OUT SUMMER

This weekend is the “last weekend of summer” and I’ve been living it up and wearing my most summery pieces, as tomorrow is the last day to wear white…(does anyone follow that rule anymore?)

FAIR TRADE FOR TEENS!

Grab yourself a copy of the back-to-school edition of Justine Magazine on newsstands now. Justine is a national magazine filled with fun, positive, and empowering content for teenage girls. This month the mag features fair trade clothing from our Fall 2011 line, out this September.

IT’S AUGUST ALREADY?

This summer has been scorching. Also, this summer has been the busiest. Lots of exciting projects! I’ve pretty much resorted to wearing dresses only. This slightly cuts my prep time in the morning – dresses are no-brainers because it’s like an instant outfit.

MATA MEETS INSPIRATION

Here’s a pic of me and my friend Rian out to lunch at the new Inspiration Kitchens that opened up 2 months ago in Garfield Park. The restaurant is the newest social enterprise of Inspiration Corporation, a non-profit homeless service organization. The delicious “contemporary American cuisine” is prepared and served by students and graduates of their food service training program. Of course, there is an obvious connection between Inspiration Kitchens and Mata Traders as organizations with a double bottom line: a sustainable, self-generating income and a social mission of being a vehicle providing people a way out of poverty.

FAIR TRADE PHOTO CONTEST WINNERS ANNOUNCED

And Mata Traders wins!! …along with 11 other amazing photographs that will be featured in the 2012 Fair Trade Calendar. Of the 3 producer photos we submitted, our image of the rural woman hand block printing was chosen by voters. Thank you to everyone who voted for us!

FAIR TRADE PHOTO CONTEST

We have to admit, the competition is stiff. The photographs in this year’s Fair Trade Photo Contest are amazing and inspiring. Will our entries be amongst the top 12 that make it into the 2012 Fair Trade Calendar? With your help, we hope so!!!

AMERICA!

The 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays. Three day weekends, fireworks, bar-b-ques, freedom. Mata’s Prairie Top was the perfect top to show my patriotism. It is such a good summer top – practically all of Mata’s pieces are 100% cotton. I also wore this earlier in the day. I get so many compliments on that dress, and I love the chambray.

FAIR TRADE FEDERATION CONFERENCE

Michelle and I drove up to the very cool city of Milwaukee in May to attend the Fair Trade Federation’s annual conference. Michelle is an old hat with FTF conferences, but it was my first. I really enjoyed meeting other folks involved in the fair trade movement, people who dedicate everyday of their lives to providing a way out of poverty to hundreds of farmers, artisans, and skilled workers all over the world.

In the Garden

Hello, everyone! Here I am guest blogging for Mata! I have always been a fan of this brand, and have a sizable Mata collection in my closet. I am such a blog junkie, so it’s neat to be writing instead of reading.

Welcome New Fashion Blogger!

Laura is a wardrobe and image consultant and first came to Mata as a design intern from the Illinois Institute of Art – Chicago. Besides modeling in our catalogs, she also styled several of them and designed the layout. She’s got some serious fashion chops, and we love her intuitive sense of style and coolness.

Fair Trade Lingerie is Not Easy to Find

Michelle got married on Saturday! It turned out to be a fabulous event and all of us bridesmaids were looking great in our fair trade bridesmaids dresses. We’ll be sure to post lots of pics as soon as we get them from the photographer.

Ethical Fashion Blog

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