Valentine's Day is coming!

Chocolate, flowers, jewelry, cards, stuffed animals... all popular items for Valentine's Day and all available by businesses that also empower people around the world. If you are planning to buy Valentine's Day gifts, consider shopping the stores we promote here. You'll be giving a token of love that goes many directions.  check out our new Valentine's section with class pack of Valentine's Day cards with fair trade chocolate and chocolate hearts by Divine or Equal Exchange.
More love to you!

Trade As One Boutique coming to Fresno!

Trade As One Boutique
Sat. Oct. 13 from 4:00 to 7:30 p.m. and Sun., October 14 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
hosted by Clovis Hills Community Church
10590 North Willow Avenue, Clovis, CA 93619
Products from Trade As One will be avialable for purchase. Items include food, accessories, housewares, apparel, books, gifts, and more!
For more information, call Clovis Hills at 559-297-2600.
Trade As One is a non-profit organization bring fair trade business to the public.
For more information about Trade As One, including how to host a boutique, visit their website.

Shop For Gifts That Supports Charities

Yet another ingenious website has emerged to make it easier to find amazing products that support amazing work and incredible people. I introduce to you- Da da dada!- CharityGiftMarket.com
I learned about it from Zion Project, a ministry in Gulu, Uganda that I  love and have visited. Their jewlery, Imani, is on Charity Gift Market's website.
Check out their promo video below:

New Category! Local Businesses!

Here in the Central valley, we are privilege to have two fair trade shop, World Handcrafts in Reedley and Rustica Kollection in Fresno, as well as the warehouse of a fair trade coffee roaster, Lanna Cafe. Check them out in our new category box and then check them out in real space!

Uganda Jewelry Adds Wedding Line

Introducing.... THE WEDDING COLLECTION by 31 Bits!

The theme of The Wedding Collection is “First Comes Love…”. Your relationship didn’t start with a wedding, just like 31 Bits didn’t start with a business plan. It simply started with love...

SHOP THE WEDDING COLLECTION HERE
Read more about their inspiration for their line in their NEW WEDDING CATALOG

"Fair Holidays 2011" Shopping Campaign

So I hear that people are already starting their Christmas shopping. Impressive. I want to present an opportunity to make holiday shopping even more special. How? By empowering women and families around the world. By helping former slaves to provide for themselves and their families free of oppression and abuse. By helping end slavery and sweatshop labor one purchase at a time, by choosing products made by fair labor practices, and usually higher quality, and sending a message to companies that this matters.
Simply put, I am encouraging you to consider your shopping list this coming season and buy fair labor products for presents, decorations, food items, and other purposes this Christmas and encourage others to do the same.
With so many tools and options, participation is simple:
1. If you know any fair labor businesses locally and online, consider products they offer when shopping.
2. Click and bookmark these shopping guide websites:
globalloveshopping.blogspot.com, my online catalogue and guide for fair trade
fairpages.com, a fair trade version of the Yellow Pages
shoptostopslavery.com, a fair trade shopping guide site with an annual holiday catalogue.
Trade As One, a fair trade collaboration.
Check in on Fair Trade Federation's 2011 gift guide, coming soon, but in the meantime, see their 2010 guide: http://www.fairtradefederation.org/ht/a/GetDocumentAction/i/14387
Before you buy a product, check this pages to see if they are available fair labor.
3. For good deals, sign up to Roozt.com and Ecobunga.com and sign up for Global Love Shopping On facebook and twitter for promoted deals. Buying fair may mean spending a little more, but these help.
4.Promote the Campaign!!! Copy and share this list and the listed websites with people you know. Share with people about your finds and encourage others to shop fair this season.
5. If you are interested in other ways to promote these product, consider hosting a catalogue party. Some organizations, such as Madebysurvivors.com have catalogue party kits.

Fair Pages- Shop Freely!

I apologize for the silence, but I DO have good news of a great resource I discovered: The Fair Pages. One of the missions of my blog is to make it easier for people to choose products that are made and sold under fair, empowering, and human working conditions. I have scoured the web for great companies to promote, including those that made not necessarily be fair trade certified, but are certainly functioning under those principles.
The Fair Pages is the yellow pages with this purpose. Search for a particular product and get listings of businesses that provide such products. Those of you with a fair trade business can add their own listing.
I still encourage you to check out the listings on this page, but I also encourage you to bookmark, use, and promote The Fair Pages.
Think: buying fair and promoting freedom in the upcoming holiday season.
Together we are taking more steps towards ending slavery!

Just Launched! Imani Jewelry

(note: shipping is free right now during Black Friday)
Introducing Imani

I have a few bead necklaces that are very special to me. When I wear them, I think of a group of women in Uganda who made the beads... who graciously and joyful received me and let me in their lives. A year and a half ago, I visited the women and children of Zion Project in Gulu, Uganda. The founder, Sarita Hartz, has a heart to see war affected women in this region healed, whole, and thriving.
I  was invited to join in the worship, play, and other daily life of a group of Congolese women and some children who lived together in a ZP house and my breath was taken away by their joy, their passion, their atmosphere shaking singing and dancing as they praised God.
(Here are some photos from the trip. You can see the Congolese with the beads and praying for people)

The women had been trafficked into Uganda by Ugandan soldiers who had come into Congo to fight the rebel group that ravaged Northern Uganda. Then the women were abandoned in Gulu as illegal immigrants who didn't speak the language. They were in prostitution to survive... then came to live in a house run by ZP.
Zion Project trained the women to make beads out of paper, which were made into beautiful necklaces. Paper! The paper beads were alternative source of income for the women and a means of supporting the house.
Since then, Zion Project has been continuing to develop relationships and love a whole community of  Congolese women with similar stories. ZP started a counseling support group for the women. Many women are leaving prostitution and seeking a new life.
Their new jewelry line, Imani, is the opportunity for a new way for these amazing Congolese women to provide for themselves and their children.
The stories I've been reading about what's happening in these women's lives is humbling and beautiful. Read more about them here

So I'm thrilled to introduce you to them and their jewelry line. I consider the necklaces a treasure- like the women themselves.
Enjoy!

Featured Store: Made By Survivors

Black and rose striped rug by Made By Survivors

These guys are my heroes... the artisans and the people who started this business.

All the products at Made By Survivors are created by people who were formerly slaves and now have been empowered with a new, creative income source. How cool is that? Made By Survivors is a business of Emancipation Network, whose mission is to improve the lives of slavery survivors through empowerment and education, assist rescue shelters by offering job programs and funding, improve rehabilitation and reintegration, and prevent trafficking in high risk communities.

They believe that by addressing poverty and lack of skills and opportunities among survivors and high risk people is the key to ending slavery. So, after rescue and after care, Emancipation Network  provides survivors with training, education, and fair-wage employment.

 Their work is beautiful. I especially love the designs of the rugs. 

They also have a catalog party kit (perfect for the holidays!)

Made by Survivors inspired me to start this site, because... well, people are going to buy things for Christmas and I've love for them to buy from MBS... and I knew that if people discovered this site, they'd want to buy from them.

Enjoy!

Pretty Hot Stuff (Welcome)

Consider this your new favorite "mall."
Within this site are a wide array of well-made, stylish, and often handcrafted products. It's good stuff. But on top of that, these items are empowering people around the world. Around the world, people are being set free from slavery and other forms of oppression... and being given the opportunity to support themselves and their families through their talents and abilities with legitimate work. Many others as well are being given that opportunity through cooperatives, businesses, and supported self-employment that ensures each worker is benefitting from ethical treatment and fair labor practices.
Many of these businesses have adopted practices that are responsible to all of creation.
This website is dedicated to promoting the products of such businesses and organizations and providing you with a wide selection of ethical options for gift giving and shopping.

I believe how we shop can help end slavery.

Please feel free to email with recommendations of things you'd like to see here and store suggestions
Enjoy!