Author: michael

We are excited to see an increase in our clothing sales, and we have been hearing from stores that they too have experienced more of a demand for Fair Trade clothing. We believe some of this interest in ethically sourced clothing is related to the tragedy in Bangladesh where 1,100 factory workers were killed due to poor working conditions. This is heartening, as often these stories are forgotten a few weeks after they hit the news. However the change we are seeing now isn’t related to an isolated incident, but to a larger movement that many of you have been committed to for years, and because of your hard work, Fair Trade clothing is a viable alternative for people tired of participating in the mainstream fashion industry and sweatshop sourced apparel.

Let’s keep the momentum going. Let’s redefine what clothing and fashion mean to us. Let’s not be slaves to an industry that likes to tell us what to wear, how long to wear it, and to always buy more than we need. Let’s ignore the voices that say our self worth is dependent on buying an outrageously priced pair of pants that will be out of style in 6 months. Let’s encourage others to do the same. Let’s do it together.

The Campaign

Our campaign is featuring the people who are at the forefront of this Revolution. That’s YOU.

1. Submit a photo of you, a coworker or a customer wearing their favorite Ganesh Himal Trading Fair Trade clothing item, accessory or outfit. Include a brief statement (a few sentences) about why you chose to wear Fair Trade clothing.

We have been getting feedback from stores like yours that more people are now requesting Fair Trade Clothing. We are trying our best to keep up with the demand, and luckily, we have just expanded our clothing line that includes cute new styles for both men and women.

Advance orders help us get you what you need, including, full size runs and preferred colors. Please get your orders in by August 1st for our October shipment. This recent demand for Fair Trade clothing is GOOD NEWS for everyone, and a big step towards a future where inhumane sweatshops are obsolete.

Thanks for the work you do–
Denise, Ric, Eileen, Sarah, Austin & Michele

What do you do when someone you respect so much asks a huge favor of you…

Denise & Laxmi of ACP

….When one of your mentors says they want you to lead them? Well, a few years ago, Candi Smucker of Baksheesh Fair Trade, asked me if I would take her to Nepal to meet with the artisans Ganesh Himal works with. Well, I said no! I’m not a tour leader, I’m just an on the ground hands on worker! Candi didn’t believe me and persisted and because of the amazing work that she and Brian have done on behalf of Fair Trade, I finally relented. So with some angst, this past February, I organized Ganesh Himal’s first (and only) artisan trip to Nepal, in honor of Candi!

Four others came along with Candi, and each of them from different areas of involvement in Fair Trade; Joan Frisz from Just Creations, and Sandi Thomson-Royer from Jubilee are both managers of non-profit stores; Martha Newell is a fair trade advocate and has been involved in Fair Trade education through FTRN board membership and the Women’s Donor Network; and Kathy Lukefahr-Jewell is a fair trade consumer and just a lovely person! It seemed like the right mix and it was. We had an amazing time together and although I ran them rather ragged (I warned them I would) they were troopers and absorbed every last bit of information the artisans had to offer. The artisans, in turn, gave an amazing amount of their time and energy to help to educate the group. Sarah and Austin from the Ganesh Himal staff were along and were indispensable, as were Eileen, Michele and Ric who reluctantly stayed home to keep business running smoothly.

I know that each of the individuals who traveled with us is available to talk with you about their experience and to give you their own personal insight into Ganesh Himal. And, as much as I know each and every one of you would have liked to come along, it’s just not possible, so I chose those who had asked me for years and who had committed to moving this experience forward to the nth degree. They will have to be your eyes to these beautiful people we work with in Nepal. There is just too much work to be done to provide you with the beautiful products for me to take on another career as a tour guide but I want you to know how I wish you were all along for this wonderful journey (and in a way you were).

To give you a taste, we’ve included a bit of the thank you notes we received from Candi and Joan….enjoy.

From Candi:

Imagine going to work and finding five people in your office, smiling kindly but leaning over your shoulder and asking questions while you’re trying to get your job done. Add to that a work day that is much longer than eight hours, a work week that’s eight days instead of five and it’s all happening in a different culture and those five people could do something really dumb at any moment.

Great thanks to Denise, Austin and Sarah for putting up with exactly this situation with grace and humor and patience as five of us joined them for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see fair trade on a very personal level in Nepal.

It was a great privilege for me to see Denise in action. Her genuine love of the people of Nepal and their culture was evident in every communication. Her commitment to fair trade is strong. To see concrete examples of the fair trade principles of long-term commitment and capacity building was awesome. She has worked with most of these groups for over 25 years. In many cases she has become part of their extended family. She continually develops new products to satisfy the North American market while taking careful consideration of artisan skills and restrictions. She hasn’t given up when groups fall on hard times but searches for creative ways to increase her purchases. She is sensitive to the realities of their environment and work situation making sure that her orders are placed to maximize continuity of work for them. The balancing act needed to accomplish all of this and make sure you have a sustainable business while doing it is amazing.

Thanks to all who remained in the States to keep things running while we rambled through Kathmandu.

I know this was a disruptive and exhausting thing for the Ganesh Himal team to do and that it won’t be repeated. I appreciate this opportunity. I take my role in moving this forward seriously.

Great, great thanks.
Candi Smucker

And from Joan:

“I did want to take the opportunity to tell you just how much it meant to me to share the experience in Nepal with you…this one was really special. We talk so much about relationships in Fair Trade and that often is simply related to buying. What I saw and experienced with you were deep and real personal relationships…” -Joan

For us at Ganesh Himal, and for me personally, this was truly a wonderful experience. It is a bit like opening your heart and hoping that people will step lightly on the things that you love so much. What I found was a profound deepening of the relationships I have with my fellow North Americans with whom I walk along this Fair Trade path and a deep respect for them and what they bring to this endeavor. We hope to deepen our relationships with all of you over the coming years and want to thank you all for your amazing support of our work together in Nepal.

Namaste!

Denise

We here at Ganesh Himal Trading have been blessed to be featured in Fig Tree, a newspaper that features local non-profit and faith based communities. They wrote three features involving Ganesh Himal Trading, and fair trade, from our launch of ” The Power of 5 Campaign” to the upcoming Jubilee sale that features fair trade products from around the world including items from Ganesh Himal.

Check out the articles below:

Here is an excerpt from the article about the launch of our Power of Five Campaign:

Ganesh Himal Trading launches scholarship project to support education opportunities for girls in Nepal

As part of the annual Fair Trade Festival and inspired by PBS showing “Half the Sky” about the desire for girls and women to be educated, Ganesh Himal will launch “The Power of Five” or raise funds for the Girl Child Education Fund of the Association for Craft Producers (ACP) in Nepal to provide scholarships so girls can attend school.

The ACP works with marginalized women to help them gain skills, live lives of dignity, gain control of their earnings and provide education for their daughters.

Many girls have been able to stay in school because of these scholarships, but, in February 2012, Ric and I met with two girls who had finished their three years of scholarships and were unable to continue because their father lost his income and no scholarship money was available, she said.

Ganesh Himal seeks to reach 900 people to raise $4,500 to fund scholarships for more than 100 children of fair trade producers at ACP in Kathmandu, Nepal.

They have created and will be selling packets of bookmarks that tell the story. When participants share the bookmarks, they raise awareness about the importance of educating girl children, raise money for scholarships and tell about the effects of fair trade…

To finish the article, click on the link below

http://www.thefigtree.org/nov12/110112ganeshpowerfive.html

Here is an excerpt from the article featuring Denise Atwood, co-owner of Ganesh Himal Trading and Kim Harmson, owner of Kizuri, a fair trade store located in Spokane:

Two women who have been friends for more than 25 years represent two parts of the global chain of fair trade from the earth to producers, wholesalers, retailers to consumers and back to the earth.

Denise Attwood, co-owner of Ganesh Himal Trading, is a wholesaler who has built a business with $1.5 million yearly in fair trade retail sales. She business connects cottage industries and development projects for Tibetan refugees and women in Nepal with 250 retailers around the United States.

Kim Harmson, owner of Kizuri, a fair trade retail outlet in the Community Building at 35 W. Main has the shop that had roots in the nonprofit Global Folk Art and now sells items from 40 cultures. Kizuri has grown from a business of $155,000 in 2008 to $253,778 in 2011. This growth has allowed the store to work with more artisan groups, double its inventory, hire part-time employees and make more than $21,000 in donations to nonprofits both locally and globally.

Both experienced growth through the economic downturn. They operate outside the traditional business model.

At a recent Spokane City Forum at First Presbyterian Church, they invited people to become consumers of fair trade products. Purchases cycle back through the retail-wholesale chain to producers whose lives and communities improve as they educate their children, gain access to medical care and provide food, shelter and clothing for their families.

Beyond that, Denise and Kim said producers catch an entrepreneurial spirit and use savings to invite others, usually women, to earn a living by producing traditional and nontraditional products.

Denise and Kim see fair trade as a win-win strategy to create micro-enterprise locally and abroad.

Interested in cultures and people, Denise and her husband Ric Conner traveled in Nepal after earning degrees in environmental studies 28 years ago. They bought sweaters from Tibetan refugees. After a month of trekking, they told the refugees how much they liked the sweaters.

The refugees, who had no access to assistance, asked them to help develop a market so they could earn enough money to send their children to school. “We are not business people,” they told the refugees, but they decided to spend $400 to buy sweaters and ship them home. When they returned, Denise’s parents suggested they rent the Civic Theater and tell their story. They did, and the sweaters sold out…

To finish this article, click the link below:

http://www.thefigtree.org/nov12/110112harmsonattwood.html

Here is an excerpt from the article featuring a women who will be selling products from their village in Kashmir, India in the upcoming Jubilee fair trade goods sale happening in Spokane:

By Mary Stamp

After settling in Spokane 40 years ago, Naseem and Nissar Shah, who grew up in the village of Srinagar in Kashmir, India, found when they returned home in the 1970s that family, friends and other people in their village struggled because of poverty and war.

At first the Shahs brought back traditional crafts lacquered papier-mach boxes, animals, eggs, candleholders, coasters, knitted purses and woven wool rugs by local artisans as gifts for their friends in the United States.For the last three years, they have been among the fair-trade vendors who sell hand-made products through the Jubilee International Marketplace at First Presbyterian Church in Spokane.

Tourism had been a strong market in Kashmir, allowing artisans to make a modest living. Decades of war, however, led to a decline in tourism and living conditions. India and Pakistan still fight over the state of Kashmir.

“I remember that Kashmir was a paradise on earth with the Himalayan Mountains, lakes and four seasons, she said.

In the mid 1990s, they began buying crafts to help families in nearby villages. They paid in advance, because the artisans needed the money.

“It’s the main livelihood for four families, she said.

Along with their jobs, the Shahs then decided to start a small business and sell the crafts at craft shows in Spokane on weekends.

Before they learned about fair trade, the Shahs sold items at local fall and Christmas season craft shows and at the Fall Folk Festival in November. Eventually, they also began to sell leather purses and jewelry they made with beads from India.

For 14 years, Naseem has worked for Head Start, helping children and low-income families in Spokane. Nissar graduated from Gonzaga University in engineering and works in that field.

Naseem’s father, who had come to the United States in the 1950s, taught civil engineering at Gonzaga. Naseem met Nissar when he came from the same area of Kashmir to study engineering.

Naseem studied biology and chemistry, graduating from Gonzaga University in 1978. She worked as a medical technician before raising her family. Later she took classes at Spokane Falls Community College in early childhood education.

Nasreen, the youngest of their three daughters, was nine when she first visited relatives in Kashmir. She helps her parents with the Jubilee sale.

Now, she said, the original art form is on the decline as younger people do not carry on the traditions. So the Shahs have fewer items, and the Jubilee sale fits their inventory.

To finish this article see the link below:

http://www.thefigtree.org/nov12/110112shahjubileemkt.html

Thanks again Fig Tree!