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:
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.
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.
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
