SOME OF OUR REMARKABLE MAKERS
APE MALAYSIA
Animal Projects & Environmental Education Sdn. Bhd. APE is a social enterprise that develops programmes in support of conservation projects in a sustainable manner. Their programmes are designed to be embedded within partner project sites and aim to benefit the environment, wildlife, animals and community of the area through monitored and measured conservation outcomes.
ATHKAM LANKA
Makers of latex rubber animals. Athkam Lanka is committed to uplifting and providing employment to artisans in rural communities in Sri Lanka. Each item is carefully handcrafted and painted and takes weeks to create. Athkam Lanka's products are manufactured using natural latex sap harvested from the Hevea brasiliensis (rubber) tree in Sri Lanka. After harvesting, this latex is processed at a facility that works to ISO standards. The latex compound meets Australian, EU and US standards as it does not contain any harmful ingredients, either to children or the environment. Anthem Lanka uses non-toxic paints that are certified safe for kids.
BATIK BOUTIQUE
Batik Boutique began with a friendship between two women. In 2009, Amy Blair became friends with Ana, a single mother, who at the time was looking for more income to support her family. Ana and Amy began brainstorming ways she could earn an income. Ana was able to sew, so together they bought some batik fabric that Ana transformed into unique gifts that Amy gave to family and friends. Soon, word spread and with it came demand. Amy founded Batik Boutique in the belief that women like Ana deserved a fair and sustainable income, and the ability to provide for themselves and their families. Batik Boutique's vision is to empower hundreds of artisans like Ana by offering them a fair and sustainable income producing beautiful, high quality fashion and gifts. Today, more than 150 artisans have worked with Batik Boutique to gain a fair, sustainable income and marketable skills. Their seamstresses set their own wage and hours. In 2015 they established a sewing centre in the community where our artisans live to make working more convenient and eliminate needs for transport and childcare.
BAU HANDICRAFT HOUSE
Located in Bau, inland from Kuching in Sarawak, East Malaysia (Borneo), the Bau Handicraft House was established as a cooperative project by the Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas), Federal Agriculture Marketing Authority (FAMA) and Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-based Industry (Sarawak). It is the first handicraft centre for the Indigenous Bidayuh community to showcase and sell their local handicrafts, made locally from sustainably harvested materials, and keeping traditional artisanal skills, mostly among women, alive.
BENNETTO NATURAL FOODS
Bennetto Natural Foods Company was founded by Lucy Bennetto in 2010, a real food lover and inspiration behind everything we do. They take time to understand their own impact in the world. Bennetto pays careful consideration to their people, their animals and their planet, and at every step they look at ways to minimise their footprint the best they can. They have passion and pride for all their products. They make sure their customers continue to love their products, as they too appreciate the attention to detail and joy from life’s small pleasures - from the delicious chocolate, generous flavours to the beautiful artwork on the packaging. They like to do things differently. They love to innovate with new ideas, original flavours and ways to enjoy all things natural and edible without anything added that really shouldn’t be there. Natural-creative-deliciousness always takes high priority at Bennetto. They've always aimed to do more than simply produce great chocolate. Their hope is that they inspire people everywhere, to be thoughtful in every aspect of their lives and business – not just because it’s nice, but because it’s vital to the continued wellbeing of the people and the world we live in.
BETTER WORLD ARTS
Art is one of the finest expressions of the human spirit and handicrafts a deep-felt expression of culture. Better World Arts bring together these exalted reflections of humanity, uniting the oldest living culture on earth with the finest handmade traditions of the silk road and beyond. Our works bring balance and symmetry, nurturing the souls of the artists, their families and communities on all sides of the world. Let them embellish your life as well. By developing new and innovative projects, we can continue to distribute generous royalties to artists and support economic sustainability for communities in developing regions. Better Arts World is an Australian social enterprise based in South Australia. A Fair Trader of Australia.
BOOTEEK
A social enterprise that aims to link underprivileged women in Sri Lanka with the rest of the world by marketing products handmade by them. This project started as a workshop in needlework for students at the Chitra Lane school for the special child. Today, it is a collective of their mothers and other women from Sri Lanka’s low-income bracket. In addition to working with the women, we recently started training a team of young adults with special needs, to paint and create our packaging from upcycled waste paper. This marks the beginning of two goals we’ve had from the very start – to create sustainable lives for young adults with special needs and to minimise waste causing no unnecessary harm to our environment.
BRACENET
Every year, 640,000 tons of fishing nets are lost or dumped at sea. They lose their purpose, but not their function – and keep on fishing as they drift through the oceans. Millions of marine animals get caught in these so-called “ghost nets” and suffer a cruel death. It’s time to end this! We recover the nets and handcraft them into Bracenets in Germany, upcycling a piece of real fishing net for every product. Spread the message for the protection of the oceans: SAVE THE SEAS. WEAR A NET.
BRAMBLE & HEDGE
Bramble & Hedge was started in a small kitchen apartment in Melbourne in the Spring of 2009 by Hayley Crompton. She had returned from Beirut in Lebanon where she worked as a private chef. Hayley was inspired by a visit to their Al-Hamidiyah souk in Damascus, Syria where she witnessed the ancient art of confectionery making. Bramble & Hedge uses exceptional ingredients - a celebration of some of the world’s finest artisans - to handcraft delicious ‘works of art’ in Melbourne.
CRAFT LINK
Craft Link is a Vietnamese not–for–profit which is World Fair Trade Organisation guaranteed and helps traditional craft producers to revive their culture and improve their livelihoods through handicraft production and marketing. Craft Link works as closely as possible with the people who actually produce the handicrafts. Craft Link gives preference to producers who are marginalised or disadvantaged, such as ethnic minority people in remote areas, street children, and people with disabilities. Producer groups, organisations, or small businesses that are investing in the handicraft producers' social welfare and not simply treating them as a means of production are given preference.
DELUXE SHEA BUTTER
The business began operations in 2007 when the two founding brothers formed a partnership with their mother and Auntie, the late Nana Adubea Yeboah II, Traditional Chief of Aduamoa in Kwahu, Ghana. Initially they supplied Shea butter to the Ghanaian community in their adopted hometown of Adelaide, Australia. The mission of Deluxe Shea Butter is simple: to bring the benefits of shea butter to the world whilst empowering local individuals and their communities, providing employment and opportunity to create a sustainable quality of life. For Deluxe Shea Butter, it’s the people behind the product who make it all happen. Their premium, fair trade products are a direct result of giving members of the Ghanaian communities a fair go with a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work.
DR BRONNER'S
Dr. Bronner’s was founded in 1948 by Emanuel Bronner, a third-generation master soapmaker from a German-Jewish soapmaking family. He used the labels on his superb ecological soaps to spread his message that we must realize our unity across religious & ethnic divides or perish: “We are All-One or None!” Still family-owned and run, Dr. Bronner’s honours its founder’s vision by continuing to make socially & environmentally responsible products of the highest quality, and by dedicating its profits to help make a better world. All-One! Emanuel Bronner believed that a company has a responsibility to “Share the profits with the workers and the earth from which you made it!” His son Ralph called this approach Constructive Capitalism and they practice it in every aspect of their business—from the products they make, throughout their supply chains, to their dedicated activism and charitable giving, to their relationships with employees, customers and suppliers. It’s important to them that their products have a real and positive impact on the people and communities worldwide that make them.
DUNITZ & COMPANY
Dunitz & Company collaborates with local artisans in Guatemala. A group of Mayan women hand make beaded jewellery primarily with Czech and Japanese beads. The glass jewellery is handmade by a local artisans in Guatemala City. Other elements such as ribbons, leather, vintage buttons, coins or semiprecious stone chips along with traditional Guatemalan weaving and embroidery are incorporated into the creations. Dunitz & Company support and contribute to several organisations in the community where the beadwork is crafted, including child education, lunch programs, mother-infant care and a free library that offers reading classes. Dunitz & Company is a verified member of the Fair Trade Federation in America.
EARTH GREETINGS
In 2003, Heide Hackworth started out with a humble goal, to make greeting cards and stationery that was "100% Earth Friendly." Since then, Earth Greetings has grown to become a well loved and trusted brand of 100% recycled greeting cards, stationery and Earth friendly homewares. Their love for people, animals and planet runs deep through everything they create. Earth Greetings collaborate with a talented and diverse team of artists, to produce designs which celebrate the unique beauty of Australian native flora and fauna. Made in Australia with the lightest possible footprint. Their goal at Earth Greetings is to contribute to a better future for our planet. They choose 100% post-consumer waste for our paper products, made by environmentally certified mills, using vegetable based printing ink and use a carbon neutral printer. Earth Greetings donates a minimum 10% of profit to environmental organisations who care for wildlife and help to restore their habitat.
HEALING THE WOUNDED HEART
Healing the Wounded Heart Shop was founded in 2009 by Spiral Foundation - a NGO that works with children with a disability in Viet Nam. Healing the Wounded Heart Shop design and handcraft products using traditional Vietnamese designs, from traditional Vietnamese silk and textiles made by the ethnic minority tribes of Northern Viet Nam and also from recycled materials including aluminium soda cans, plastic water bottles and plastic snack wrappers. The artisans, have a disability (mostly dead) are from Hue, Viet Nam. The social enterprise is fair trade verified by the Fair Trade Federation. Net proceeds are put towards a sustainability fund for the artisans and also for surgeries for people with congenital heart disease in Central Vietnam.
JASPER COFFEE
An Australian owned Speciality Coffee Roaster established in 1989. They are dedicated to re-humanizing the coffee supply chain, and have formed strong friendships across the Coffee world in our exploration and adventure into the unknown. They hold in stock Australia’s largest selection of Single Origin beans, Blends, Fairtrade, Organic & Specialty Coffees. We accept into their repertoire only those beans with distinctions of flavour, body, and aroma that satisfy their palate. Sustainability has always shaped how they do business. Jasper Coffee keeps this in mind through all decisions they make. This has manifested in our Certifications for Organic, Fairtrade and Carbon Neutral, along with our search for Shade Grown coffees, the cleaning products they use, the cars they drive, the compostable packaging, and the economic and social benefits they direct to producers.
MASTER PIECE CRAFTS
Master Piece Crafts International is a quality label making traditional handmade crafts. Their gifts are handcrafted by experienced crafts people living below the poverty line in India who are engaged by Master Piece Crafts to help support their family’s livelihood. Their vision is to be the most trusted and preferred organisation to our artisans and stakeholders by following Fair Trade practices in the art and craft sector.
NITIRAJ INCENSE
From humble beginnings in 1978, Nitiraj was formed in London to introduce the first quality traditional incenses in the UK market which were made from scratch using natural plant based ingredients. It is renowned internationally for providing premium quality, Fair Trade, incense sticks hand rolled in India from the finest natural ingredients.
PASSION LILIE
Passion Lilie is a fair trade fashion brand that blends classic silhouettes with hand woven ikat and playful block prints to create pieces that are both timeless by design and effortless to style. Designed with a comfort and fit in mind, each item is ethically handmade in small batches by craftspeople dedicated to preserving heritage techniques. They believe in making things the right way and care deeply about doing our part to build a more sustainable world, one built on honesty and respect. From the way they design to the way they create each fair trade collection, sustainability is at the core of every aspect of their business.
PRESERVE
Since 1996, Preserve has made products that are good for both people and the planet. They transform yogurt cups into toothbrushes and take-out containers into tableware. Through innovations in sustainable materials, recycling systems, and performance-driven design, Preserve has created low-impact, stylish products to accompany you in your day-to-day life.
As a pioneer in sustainable products, they found our roots in creating everyday household products from 100% recycled plastic. To divert even more plastic from the landfills, they took it a step further and developed our own takeback program called Gimme 5, which collects #5 plastic that they transform into new Preserve products, ultimately closing the product lifecycle loop. Their Preserve Ocean Plastic Initiative (POPi) makes great products from plastic that was rescued from coastlines and waterways and was at risk of entering the ocean. Plastic waste is finding its way to the ocean at a pace we never thought possible. While one razor or one toothbrush doesn’t solve the enormous problem of ocean plastic. But little steps count. Preserve is proud to be taking steps to support some amazing organizations that are having a positive impact on ocean health.
SALVAGE CLOTHING
Salvage uses the cuttings from organic cotton textile production, shreds them, and turns them back into soft cotton fibres. Added them are fibres made from locally recycled plastic bottles to obtain a cotton and polyester blend. These are then spun to blend the fibres turning them into a fine yarn to make fabrics. Finally, Salvage finishes the production with care to create a high-quality product. Salvage labelled products are made in India in Fair Wear enterprises. Their products are certified under the Global Recycle Standard (GRS) and the Organic Content Standard (OCS) by the Control Union Certifications.
SELYN LOOMS
Selyn Handlooms is a Sri Lankan not–for–profit which is World Fair Trade Organisation guaranteed. It has been in operation since 1991 and engages skilled artisans, men, women and youth from rural parts of Sri Lanka, to revive the country’s tradition of the loom weavers in creating handmade products. Selyn now has nearly 1000 member artisans, across 16 workshops, and all of their products are manufactured following World Fair Trade Organisation fair trade principles. Selyn aims to not only empower the artisans financially but to also help the artisans improve their living standards.
TALL TALES
Tall Tales Sri Lanka is a Colombo based design label founded in 2014 by two sisters with a desire to walk alongside their mother, Sally and champion her local mental health charity, Nest. Net proceeds from the sales of Tall Tales supports the work of mental health and development in Sri Lanka. Beautifully illustrated greeting cards are all designed by Sally, unveiling enchanting tales of tropical paradise.
TOHE
Tohe is a social enterprise based in Vietnam. Tohe’s project is about creating opportunities for disadvantaged children to have fun, but also helping them get the benefits of a weekly free art playground. Selected artworks are then redesigned and printed on lifestyle products such as clothes, accessories, home wares, and toys. The artists receive 5% of the product price as royalties. A portion of the profits are also used to fund the creative classes and scholarship programs for talented children. Tohe products are handcrafted from environmentally friendly cotton materials. They are digitally printed to help recreate the original drawing with integrity.
WASHPOOL SKIN WELLNESS
Washpool Farm Soaperie is the home of ethical, authentic and nourishing giftware and everyday home, bath and body care. Their handcrafted soaps and natural bath and body products are all handmade here at the Soaperie in Ballandean, Queensland. Made with premium ingredients, their formulations are designed to cleanse and gently nourish the skin. They source their ingredients from ethical and fair trade suppliers and buy Australian, organic and local where possible.
YOGA TRIBE®
Leaders in the production of sustainable and ethical services for yoga and wellness. They offer yoga practice and wellness in a truly sustainable way with ecological yoga products, free of toxins in its production and in the final product. Leaving the world a better place... their mission is education. YogaTribe® is not driven only by the generation of wealth: it is driven by an underlying philosophy that a successful and profitable company does not need to be at the expense of others or the environment. YogaTribe® will leave the world as a better place through the positive impact on the lives of those it touches and giving back to the communities it relies on.