Nuts about Knitting!

I HAVE A KNITTING MACHINE!!!!!!! This will actually make very little sense to the majority of the population, nor stir their imagination and raise their heart rate like it does mine. While I'm practicing on small baby and premmie items at the moment, our vision for this machine goes all the way to Peru!

In the next few weeks we will be recieving our first delivery of knitted items from Peru. These items have been knitted by a group of ladies that call themselves Warimpa Maki, or Women's Hands in english. They live in a town called La Oroya, 4 hours outside of Lima.

We're really annoyed that we can't buy a large amount of fair trade clothing easily here in Australia and have been challenged to change that. We're in the process of recieving some samples of t-shirts made in Nicaragua where all the people making the t-shirts own the business.

The ladies in Peru produce an amazing quality in their knitted work, but they are restricted to only hand knitting items and this time consuming process adds to the price, restricting the items that are viable to retail back here in Australia. Knitting machines could remove this obsticale for the ladies and help them to produce a product that we think will be widely sought after. So by Jun/Jul 2011 we need to raise the money to take us to Peru and purchase several machines to take over. I am even contemplating learning spanish so that it will be easier to teach the ladies how to use the machines. As unemployment is quite strong in Peru I'm really passionate about increasing the work opportunities for these ladies with the hope that they are so busy they will need to add more staff on. I'll keep you posted as the journey progresses.

As promised, here are some of the Fair Trade Fashion options available at the moment:

http://www.tomsshoes.com/

design wise this is one of my favourites. They make a shoe that is based on traditional Argentinian designs and mix that with wild colours and fabrics. Although they aren't certified as a fair trade producer, when asked they said that they do take care when selecting their manufacturers. The shining light is that for every pair of shoes sold they will give a pair of shoes to an impoverished child. They have quite good information on their web page about how to choose sizes.

http://www.onecolour.com.au/

Owned by my friend Di, One Colour has a passion for Fair Trade Fashion and last year saw the release of their first collection (as seen in Peppermint Magazine). They also have a great range on Mens, Womens and Childrens t-shirts definitely worth checking out.

http://www.eternalcreation.com/

Eternal Creation is produced ethically in the foothills of the Himalayas in India. They have a fantastic range of boys and girls clothing and even dabble in a bit of womens wear and sleepwear as well. Their fabrics are beautiful and the designs of the clothing would rival any big brand. I don't have any personal experience with this company but will definitely give it a go when we have children. Let us know what they're like if you buy anything.

I hope this helps and I'll keep posting more.

Thanks

Kristin

A Fashionable Fair Trade Journey

Standing before me was rack upon rack of discounted clothing. "30% off the ticketed price" they screamed. My brain was abuzz with excitement, I had to hold myself back from doing the magical discounting sums in my head. I could feign that my browsing was "keeping up with fashions" or "educating myself on styles, cuts and fabrics". But lets face it, my knees buckle at the sign of a sale and these bumper bargins were about to send my fair trade fashion resolution crashing to the ground.

I mustered all the resolve I could and marched right past the sales racks. Not without my right arm, apparently with a mind of its own, jumping out to touch the soft folds of an illict floral number as I passed.

This was my year of only Fair Trade Fashion! How could I come so close to being sucked in by a sales rack? It would have fullfilled my impulsive misguided need for variety in my cupboard for sure(forgetting the mountain of clothing I already have!), but still left me wanting.

My self control for purchasing only fair trade chocolate is going really well. When it comes to my self-control with eating it.....well that's another story. I think Chocolate is easy though. It's in enough major supermarkets that with a little effort we can find it. Convenience isn't an appropriate excuse for avoiding fair trade though. I very shamefully say that I have put fair trade fashion into the too hard basket. There are two shining lights of fair trade fashion in my wardrobe. Two white tops from www.onecolour.com.au . I brought them form Di at a Fair Trade market.

I was also deterred from purchasing because of the few companies that sell designer fair trade which has the designer price tag to go with it too. I don't think this is a representation of everything that's available though. Sacrificing quantity in my wardrobe so that I can have fair trade clothes is something I'm definitely willling to do. I don't think we really have an understanding of poverty in Australia. We have so much to be thankful for. I'm determined not to allow myself to become wrapped in the self centered lifestyle that the western world sucks us into. I will definitely choose to live a lot more simply if the result of that is freedom and a life lived by those that make my clothes.

I'm determind to research and find some great options for Fair Trade Fashion! I'll keep you posted on how I go. We're also looking at selling more clothing through our Fair Trade business. I'll let you know how that goes too!!!! I'm so excited!!!

Newbie Blogger

Hello, I've never actually done this before. To tell you the truth I'm only starting this blog so that I can enter a competition to win a free fair trade bodysuit and wooden toy.

http://wwwmuddkidscomau.blogspot.com/2009/07/win-win-win.html#comment-form

I'll let you know how I go!