It's World Trade Day-May 8th!
Rosie Mae: Founder/Designer of Ethically Made from Street to Beach to Party: www.rosinamae.com /Insta: @rosiemae27
Nancy Dunitz: Business Owner of Dunitz & Company and Member of Fair Trade Federation/Insta: ndunitz
Clementina Martinez-Masa: Founder of Raine School of Fashion Innovation & Sustainability, Podcaster/Instructor/Event Curator/ Insta: @dnathreds
Nasreen Sheikh: Survivor of Labor Trafficking : empowermentcollective.org / www.nasreensheikh.com /Insta: @_nasreensheikh
Rachel Lechocki: Gallery Owner and Artist/Murals/Insta: @raylahockey
Jennifer Carlsson: Beauty Brand Strategy, Market Research and Packaging Design: Insta: mintoiro
Jackie Corlett: Designer and wholesaler of handwoven, zero waste fabrics from bangladesh /Insta: @motif.jackie
Taruna Magan: Founder of Akalroop: Inst: @akalroop_taruna
Emylee Bogart, Founder of Desired One Photography: Insta: @desiredonephotography
Intros:
Rosie
Volunteer: Chicago Fair Trade Movement
Remake Representative
Nancy Dunitz
Fair Trader
1989 start business- name after herself, work with textiles: Dunitz and Company
Screened and apart of Fair Trade Certification
Clementina
DNA use properly for fashion
Big supporter of fair trade, buy as much fair trade
Panic attack trying to shop at Target [because of lack of fair trade
Fair Trade Definition
“Trade between companies in developed countries and producers in developing countries in which fair prices are paid to the producers.” -Google
Q for Panel: Why important to buy fair trade? Hard products to find?
Emylee
Important to buy fair trade to support fair wages and have safe working environment. Hard to find food products. Easy to find coffee and chocolate but hard to find others.
Nancy
Agree easy to find fair trade chocolate and coffee
Won’t have fair trade items until Masses want
Costco Blog - dunitz.com (focus on organic not fair trade) Went up and down isles searching for fair trade items. Only found like 7 in the whole store.
Nasreen
Many people don’t understand the term
My expertise is in modern day slavery
$1.50 billion dollars spent every year on modern day slavery
Over 29 million women and girls live in under served communities
I was able to survive that situation. I experienced in my community, village undocumented, no birth certificate, men and women and children taken out into factory-bondage. My whole life stuck and spent. My uncles by age of 8 stitch clothes til 20. No nutritious food, no clean water, work so many hours. Stitch hundreds and thousands. Hope person wear clothes feel my tears and blood.
Looking up for Consumer and Leadership. We are voices. Over 14 million, producing goods, most in fashion industry [trafficked]. In agriculture and mining. [Fair Trade] Talks about fair wages, no forced labor, safe environment, partnership, more become human.
Basic needs not met then [treated like] machines. Fed like animals, work like machine. Work 12 hours a day, not feel anything. You are apart of the clothes.
Not term but awareness. Will help millions of people and invisible people [be freed].
I don’t know how old I am. Justice to the people on the ground. Countries have power. They deserve to know the truth where their clothes come from.
Made from 10 year olds. Forced and bondages. Information on the item. Customer won’t purchase it. Jeans take 300 gallons of water that could be drank. Hidden from customers. Just available things for the market. Purchase and purchase, build economy.
Reality my village, my own culture and traditions very sustainable. We lost it because go work in factories. [When given freedom] Intellectual awaking, loan from private person at age 16, make crafts, [help] marginalized women, 3 or 4 years later, activism, Katmandu
2% of women run businesses, other 98% by men [most] built on modern day slaves.
[My company] Produce 100 year old loom, left over fabrics yoga mats, wild hemp for fanny backs and backpacks.
Visit in America in 2015. How disconnected we are. Saw 100s of clothes. This is the clothes when I would stitch at 10 years old.
Importing goods in form of slavery [instead of] getting slaves from Africa and China
I need to do something about it
NonProfit: Empowerment Collective
7 things to every child on this planet: food, water, safe environment, technology,…
People have basic human rights, can solve the problem in their own communities. 2 centers in Nepal. My 12 years on the ground with marginalized and disadvantage changing women’s rights
In a year, after giving Voiceless-training and 7 basic needs: Get voice and become artist, husband more respecting, send kids to school. Men did respect them, men realized to make women more educated
[Currently], thousands of co-vid patients. healthcare system bad-no oxygen or beds
Homeless: no food or water. People don’t wake up and we need to demand basic human rights for the invisible people, no one should be hungry in 2021 and we have millions starving.
Make awareness.
If we work, we must get paid!
You need to take body care, not machine. [Uncle] Blind by 28 [due to being treated as a machine.] Very marginalized. Dependent on society. Society can’t sustain. 3 uncles passed away like that.
12 to 15 hours a day, $1-3 a day or under a day - no basic human rights
Cycle continues and continues
Fair trade brings hope to the community. Send children to the school-clean drinking water. Looking for basic human rights, can become resilient, solve our problems
Not buy fair trade, Consuming human suffering
Clementina
Awareness needs to be more amplified
Fair Trade Certification: minimal. Have to go to Whole Foods or Trader Joes
Like I said earlier, go into Target and have panic attack trying to plan for event. And Nancy's study in Costco- went down aisles and only found 7 Fair Trade items.
Make Others Aware
More advocacy- garment workers on Tuesday, 12 to 1 pm, tweeting
Big discrepancy in chocolate industry 100 billion dollars… more than 20 years to fix and all these companies- Mars and Nestle, bring down child labor but US government revealed, it got worse!
1.5 million children in Ghana, 5 to 17 years old, Hours 12 to 16 hour days
Incredibly disturbing
Go out, really having a hard time when organizing events, Target
Very selective, privilege set up, not every consumer can buy fair trade [not enough of it]
Profit over people
Been moving these industries and overlook this horrible situation we are in. Even though these companies have pledged, situation not change
Rosie
Every time we shop, find fair trade
As consumers still have power Not just the corporations
Nancy
Ethos: Dunitz & company
Guatemala for over 30 years. Started in 1989. Naive, didn’t realize they were in civil war.
Started out as beaded jewelry which is not indigenous to Guatemala. They are woodworkers and embroiders. Show Mayan women how to do bead work
Didn’t know what fair wages was at the time: honor backgrounds
[In the past] people just want cheap stuff.
Fashion forward, to succeed in current market, gift, want beautifully things for cheap. Made glass line
Sold to retail stores, now selling to people directly
Jackie Corlett
How truly we are moving
Everything [feels like its] stagnant. Want to encourage all of you, really trying to get on board, fair trade wasn’t even a term back then. International Fair Traders at that time. Before internet. Really encourage you. See that change come.
[Work with] Bangladesh, Weavers
Get designers involved never possible before, gear shift moment
Clementina
How do we accelerate it?
More curiosity and acceptance?
Clean beauty industry?
Nancy
Complicated issue. More fair trade that people want
Can’t speak to food
First start business, wholesale, my line was pretty. Consumers learn fair trade, buy line because it was fair trade not bc pretty. Now buy pretty and fair trade bonus
More product desirable to retailers, fairly made product, more well designed product. Don’t know if chicken or the egg
Clementina
Close eyes, more fair, big stores dictate to consumers
Target and Walmart: sell fast fashion right next to fair trade item
Nasareen
Wholesalers, corporate, invite to workshop, show materials and things, show women, then the business: have to sell the story
[When trafficked]Middle people: my factory, big factories, to small factory, to small factory, to mini factory-squeeze out of the people, control, pay little, work and make quote of quote of things
Bring fair trade from ground, artist, more and more people empower on the ground
Etsy, not fair trade but similar values
Never been to crazy about storage units of raw materials. People need to see it. River dying. People in those areas: voices taken, no education and think totally ok
Educated people, raise awareness and also young generation is using more recycle fabrics and bring more positive change, more hope, have to change. Challenging, not impossible, [to educate] second, third, fourth party
Clementina
Numbers become worse,
This has been coming up for 20 years, bringing up Walmart and Target. How to hold them accountable? Relationships with these brands, promoting child labor, understand the aspect of Nasareen, of fashion. That will make consumer fall in love with something special [fair trade]. [Other solutions] Talking about other products. Brands in major stores
Answers:
Education to consumers & corporations
Brand not only make another line but change the line
[Problem] They have share holders, [more about profit]
Years ago, Jay Jill, fast fashion, for a few years, selling my jewelry, best accessory
Big corporations will buy and sell ethical choices
Nasereen
Government doesn’t care
Something needs to happen, connected to profit and money, really take more actions
Canada work with children rights- import large numbers of slavery, can Canada be an example? Government not pass law [to change]. Connect to profit and money
Or Eating and consuming children and people [more important]?
Our voice is not strong enough
Videos in 2019, 12.4 million views, what shocking information, collect journalist, share the information, need rally, not enough money to marketing, use our social power,
Clementina
We are little fish in the big ocean
I want to see what happens on the twitter storm on Tuesday
Share Toolkit and Petition
Nassreen
Featured in Walk Free: Australia
Bring great organizations together: collectively, get attention, change the law
Taruna
Represent marginalized weavers in India, handbags and accessories
Acknowledge Clementina: come mainstream and about the fact government machinery take in items
Consumers have much more power, more awareness. A lot of people in India 2 meals a day, not worries about what they are wearing. Many educated [in India], not make an effort, [not care] fair and ethical, not cause damage to the environment: that population choose what to buy
They can know what to demand and supply. Only buy when done fairly. High level of conscious consumerism.
Production will continue to happen as it happens.
Talk about mainstream. Any designers or fashion stylist in position to say in a year, my line will consist of 3 or 4 outfits, ethical or eco friendly fabrics, world will change, more and more offerings, tried myself, no limitation of cuts, falls.
Try to work with weavers. Gain right kind of visibility. Struggling. Take the swatches over …Bring their story forward. All dispersed all over in India. Not able to bring to all in one place. I am saying all these people, work with fabrics. No compulsion to use it. Just get started to make it. Small business not fancy so we got Indian Certifications, pitch. Thing not there, very important, new chance. We are in a position, good quality stuff, give us feedback if not quality.
…Equal wealth contribution. India needs to move up. Disparity between peoples.
Jennifer
Work with cosmetic industries
I would be happy, free, talk to you, Marketing
Want to help out, ethical businesses, market share away from corporations
I do think consumers, power is expressed, not accept what they are selling to us, made by forced labor, we aren’t going to buy it. Tell them no not going to buy it
Power to not to consume
Rachel
Chicago, artist,
I tell friends and family
Education in kids and people
Hard to get people out of their habits
Systematic issues
Hard to get the education
Been on food stamps, what do you do, have to get what you need to get. Struggle for many people
Rosie
Food deserts
Support local and mom and pop shops
So hard- capitalism
Nasareen
Walmart- fair trade products, can’t, very limited made
made 500, violate
mass production causes a lot of harm
Closing Remarks:
Rosie
Motivated and inspired by all of you, make me a greater person
Nancy
Wonderful to be in room with like minded
Live the way that I want to be treated with respect
Clementina
Join the twitter storm on Tuesday
Keep pushing, pushing, arts,
Enjoyed the room
Youngest influencer: climate change, ethical practices
Emylee
Bring education to the classroom. When we can educate the children then they can educate their parents and relatives. Get excited about what products to buy.
Clementina
Talking in schools
Give hope when they talk
Rosie
Pictured vending machines in schools and hospitals
Nasreen
Healing journey and understanding this world and experience I went through
28 years old, lived many, many life times. My brain and abilities.
5 languages, trauma, culture
Take away from today, how much you guys care, take hope
Thought no one cared, really try to write down memories, years in sweatshop
Write book
Blood diamond then make her documentary
18 hours of video
Jackie
Community
For better or worse, nothing happens in isolation, wherever we can choose ethically handmade, demand it, campaign send post cards in the past to store managers, products not to stock, all kinds of campaigns
England Trade Craft Exchange: Fair Trade Federation Curriculum integrate into classroom
When they hear about fair trade, you mean not everything is fair trade. They have it right.
Thanks so much for tonight, it’s been amazing.
Jennifer
Everyone here really cares about change in the world
Take away, people really want to buy what looks nice, fair trade
Reach out to fair trade friends, work with me, great products or their products are great but really, really judge.
Not buy cheapest solutions from China. With right now in China. Who do really care. Not work with big corporations. Find people who want to really do good. I’ve enjoyed this room.