Today is Blog Action Day against poverty, and I thought I would try to participate. I've been looking around the web, and there are tons of sites where you can get "fair trade" textiles from around the world. The label "fair trade" means the artisans are paid a living wage for their work, and there are no sweatshops or forced labor. I must admit that most of the things I've gotten from the Internet were not labeled "fair trade." That doesn't necessarily mean someone is getting exploited, I know that Guatemalan "molas" have a known value, and the same is true of a lot of other handwork around the world.

From Nepal, silk yarn


Zimbabwe Twin Dolls

Organic Cotton Veggie toys from Egypt

Laotian Raw Silk Scarf

Guatemalan hand-woven shirt

Hmong magazine pocket from Vietnam

Hmong wall hanging from Vietnam

Embroidered Jacket from Nepal

Embroidered jewelry box from Thailand

Felt necklace from Nepal

Nepalese bags

Indian scarves

Panamanian Mola

Peruvian Arpillera

eBay has a new division as well. It looks very interesting: http://worldofgood.ebay.com/home

Have fun shopping! and "do good"!