Dec 9, 2010

Fair trade stores growing in cachet in North JerseyBy Jim BeckermanNorthJersey.com

“This necklace,” says Cynthia Thek, “is made of a reed that you find in Kenya.”

Every item in Fair World After All, an Englewood fair trade gift shop, has a story: handbags, bracelets, vases, gloves, chafing dishes, lampshades. And Thek knows them all.

“A couple of years ago there was a big drought in Kenya,” she says. “The Maasai men would leave the women and children to go out herding goats and whatnot. So the women staying back had to find another source of income. A group of them work on these necklaces.”

Here’s a green and white bag, one of Thek’s favorites. It’s made of cotton thread woven with recycled cassette tape — you can see it glisten — and comes from a vocational organization in New Delhi. “They focus on children and young adults that have developmental or physical disabilities,” she says.

Try going into a big chain store and asking the back story of one of their handbags.

Not only would the clerk not know but — if the words “made in China” or “made in Mexico” appear on the label — it might be tied to some sordid story of child exploitation or underpaid factory workers.

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