Ethics — Ethnic Supplies

You’re The One That I Want

April 12, 2011 By idahorner 1 Comment

Day 13- today’s task is to write a blog post using a name of a song.

If you are a regular here you may remember MAMA SAID THERE WILL BE DAYS LIKE THIS

For today’s post it is that tune from Grease-

You are the one I want to describe the perfect customer for Ethnic Supplies product range

But first an introduction to Ethnic Supplies

Sleeping baskets for Dogs- Handmade from banana fibres

Ethnic Supplies aims are to promote economic and social development of East African women involved in handicraft and textile production by enabling them to bring their products to the market.

We work very closely with our producers to bring you the customer the very best handmade and ethically produced African handicrafts and fashion accessories created using natural materials and method. The women we work with are almost always excluded from any form of employment and this is their only source of income, therefore buying our products provides valuable income to these women.

We identify our producers through a referral system, and before we begin working with them a company representative visits them to assess the integrity and the work of the groups concerned.

Our purchase prices are determined by the women we work with as they are best placed to decide the value of the effort that they put into the work that they produce

The perfect Ethnic Supplies customer

Are you looking for a unique fashion accessory or home-ware
Do like handmade products as opposed to mass produced
Do you care about social issues
Are you a vegan?
Do you hate waste?
Do you love vibrant colours?
Do you care about the environment?
Do you care that your fashion accessories have a story behind them
Would you like to change your shopping habits
do you like the idea of supporting companies with a strong social agenda
Do you care that whatever it is you buy was ethically produced and that the producer got a fair wage?
Are you looking for a fashion accessory made sustainably?
Do you believe in trade being a better way of ending poverty
Do you believe in taking direct action to end poverty
Do you care about conservation
What are your views on Fair trade?
Do you subscribe to the view that there is no such thing as cheap fashion
Do you care about the ethics of fashion
Do you own a gift shop and are looking for unique gifts?
Are you a retailer ?
Are you a whole sale buyer

So how did you do? Does any of the above apply to you? If so YOU ARE THE ONE I WANT AS A CUSTOMER

Filed Under: Ethical Fashion, Latest Tagged With: Africa, Business and Economy, Clothing, East africa, ethnic supplies, Fair trade, FASHION, Fashion accessory, IDA HORNER, Shopping, Social change, Women

What can a business do to support womens rights in other countries?

April 7, 2011 By idahorner 1 Comment

Soviet poster celebrates women's right to vote...

Image via Wikipedia

I must say I am really enjoying Nikki P’s 30 day blog challenge. It is day 10 today and if you missed yesterday’s post here it is . I did struggle with that one and today’s challenge is still about SEO. I have to come up with a title heading using words that folk would use to find me use it as a basis for today’s post.

I have to declare right now that I have cheated with this heading. Why and How? There is a neat plugin that shows you what word/s or questions folk typed into their search engine in order to arrive at your blog and someone found me by typing this question in their search engine so I thought I would try and answer it.

What can a business do to support women’s rights in other countries?

An interesting and really important question to ask. I partly covered this question on day 4 of this challenge in post entitled how can I help empower women in africa

In answering this question I will work on the assumption that this is a business that is based in the West and has overseas operations and that being the case what can you do

Have a strong Corporate Social Responsibility Policy (CSR) and if you don’t know what this is I wrote about it here. A well written and thought through CSR policy will influence, your recruitment, sourcing, supply chain and perhaps enable you to come up with a whole new product range
Ensure that you are leading by example
Look at how your business might impact on the very same rights that you want to support
Does the country in which you work have a programme for supporting women’s rights? If so find out how you can support that programme. But avoid being drawn into the politics of the country at all costs after all you are there to do business and are not an activist. The programmes might include education for girls , or business skills for women
Do you view women as consumers of products and services? If so can you create a service or product that enables women to be gainfully employed or is for the benefit of women?
last but not least consider volunteering your time to share/teach business skills with women so that they can start their own enterprises and become financially independent. Financial independence enables women to access health care, education for themselves and their children, the legal and political system (to fight for their rights)

I do believe that business presents an usual opportunity to support women’s rights in other countries through the policies that they adapt in regard to recruitment, supply/sourcing chains, the products/services that they provide as well as CSR. An Online Platform called Business Fights Poverty is a good resource so please do check it out for further reading

I would be interested in how your answers to the same question, don’t shy leave me a note

Filed Under: Business support for women, Latest Tagged With: African women, Business fights poverty, CSR, Women, Women's Rights

Is it ethnic or African fashion?

April 6, 2011 By idahorner 2 Comments

Day 9 of the 30 day blog challenge and if you missed yesterday’s post you can catch up here.

Today is all about SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION using some key phrases that folk use when searching for this blog. Hmmmmm… a tall order here, but I am not one to shy away from a challenge and besides I have come this far and all that..

Nivo raffia basket

The starting point for me are the products behind Ethnic Supplies which I describe as – Fashion accessories, art and handicrafts from East Africa. But are those the words that folk would type into a search engine to find our online shop?

A quick search tells me may be not, instead the following words come up

Africa Tote Bag- from Tanzania

ethnic fashion
African fashion
African jewellery
African bags
African art
African masks
handmade bags

Key words aside African or ethnic fashion as some call it offers a sustainable way out of poverty especially women.

Why? Fashion provides an opportunity to lift many African people out of poverty as VALUE can easily be added at source unlike some of the agricultural products such as coffee. In addition Africa fashion accessories produced by women are mostly from recycled or organic materials and are from sustainable sources

Raw Wild Silk scarf- Madagascar

In Madagascar for instance, wild (raw) silk is collected from the forests and woven into beautiful fabrics. These fabrics are for instance used in the making of this bag which starts life as a plain basket made from palm leaves. Palm leaves have no use unless value has been added to them.

nivo-raw wild-silk basket

In Rwanda sisal, a cactus like plant is used in the making of these beautiful baskets, the same material is used in the making of these silver sterling earrings.

Gahaya Links basket- made from sisal

The bark cloth from Uganda is very environmentally friendly as its extraction does not involve the cutting down of a tree; simply the bark is removed, and is allowed to grow back.

So there you have it folk, what phrases would you use to find Ethnic Supplies

Filed Under: Ethical Fashion, Latest Tagged With: Africa, AFRICAN BAGS, african textile, Arts, East africa, FASHION, Fashion accessory, MADAGASCAR, Rwanda, Uganda