I just discovered a jewelry and accessories company called Raven + Lily, which sells some very beautiful, interesting pieces. The more interesting part of this company is how they operate: they employ marginalized women, providing them with sustainable economic opportunities, and their proceeds also fund healthcare and literacy programs for women and children in this community.
A lot of their jewelry is made in Ethiopia from melted bullet casings and recycled metals such as copper and brass. The women who handmake these pieces are HIV-positive women, a very marginalized group in Ethiopia. Due to its unique nature, much of the jewelry will antique over time.
Definitely check out their blog, which details their travels to the localities in which they've established all of these fantastic cooperatives.
They have clothing items as well - scarves and t-shirts. They also have accessories likes bags and journals. Their Uzma Travel Journals are handmade 100% recycled cotton paper and textiles by marginalized women in Northern India. Proceeds from this collection go to fund literacy programs for the women artisans and children in the community. They're absolutely beautiful, I've already nabbed a couple for Christmas gifts. I love fair trade shopping, and I love knowing that there's a story behind an item. Empowering women in poorer nations is a cause that remains particularly close to my heart. I truly believe that greater equality for women will mean a more peaceful planet; in fact, I recently wrote a paper for a class I'm taking (Cross-Cultural Psychology) in which I found a number of studies that illustrate how societies with strictly-enforced gender roles and sexism tend to have higher levels of male aggression and are more likely to dissolve into war.
Currently, the three regions in which R+L operates are northern India, Ethiopia, and Cambodia. They're a member of another organization I've never heard of, the Ethical Fashion Forum’s 500 Fellows around the globe, which is apparently "an exclusive group of 500 of the world’s foremost innovators and leaders in the fashion sector."
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