How many days do you go before washing your jeans?

Last week, in honor of World Water Day, Levi’s employees agreed to wear the same pair of jeans or khakis for an entire week.  Could you do it?

This is a great reminder that it’s important to recycle and reuse, and also important to limit the footprint we leave behind for our generation and future generations to deal with.

At the 2012 Oscars actress Missi Pyle was spotted wearing a stunning “peace-silk” gown designed by Venezuelan born designer Valentina Delfino.

What is “peace-silk”? Normally, during the silk making process the silkworms which made the silk are killed, however the silk used in Pyle’s gown was made without the cruelty of harming the silkworms in the process.

The gown was then hand-dyed by A Dye-ing Art using natural mineral pigments and pleated by hand as to not use a machine.  Finally, Pyle’s one-of-a-kind gown was lined with recycled polyester and it featured repurposed zippers.

This super star actress who starred in the Oscar’s front-runner “The Artist” is definitely a front-runner in eco-friendly elegance.

Now if she just had Thai Song earrings to match!

Marc Bouwer, a famous designer known for his superb eco-fashion, has dressed Oscar winning actresses Halle Berry, Sandra Bullock and Angelina Jolie, to name a few.  Additionally, Edun, a line by U2 musician Bono and wife, Ali Hewson, focuses on creating fashionable clothing while also supporting fair trade and sustainable employment in developing countries around the world.

Designing consciously is exploding in the fashion industry.  It’s a revolution with no hint of coming to an end, and Thai Song is right there with some of the top designers as we design and produce stylish products that have a low impact on the environment and high impact on the improvement of society around the World.  Whether it’s making sure your clothes are not made by children and in sweatshops or using synthetic materials instead of real animal fur we’re in this together.

You can never over consume!  With each purchase you’re positively impacting the lives of women and the environment, and helping lead the fashion world in this ethical fashion revolution.

Visit Thai Song’s earring page – http://thaisongfairtrade.com/earrings/- and join the revolution by making a purchase today!

Pen is originally from Chiang Rai, and has a high school education. After graduating, Pen worked for the government, got married and they had three children.  Pen’s husband also worked, but they still ended up in a lot of debt.  Then, Pen’s husband passed away, leaving her to pay back the debt and care for their three young children alone.  As a result, Pen moved her family of four to Bangkok in order to try and get a better paying job.  This led to her selling fried chicken and hotdogs, a popular street food for people of all ages in Thailand, within her small neighborhood.  However, her income was still not enough to pay daily expenses and pay back the debt.  Therefore, Pen’s father decided to sell a piece of land to pay back her debt, but it unfortunately led to all her siblings not liking her.  Sadly, this relationship is still broken, and she can’t go home to visit her own family.

Prior to working at Thai Song, Pen continued looking after her two children who are still studying at school, and continued to use her income from selling fried chicken and hotdogs to take care of all the expenses in her house plus her children’s school fees. However, the income was still not enough for her family, because Pen can only sell food in the afternoon and evening when the people in her community return from school and work.

Today, Pen is a great asset to Thai Song, as she always has encouraging words and a smile to offer, and also came to Thai Song already having skills in crocheting.  Additionally, working at Thai Song provides Pen the flexibility of working from home and only in the mornings, which provides her time to spend with her children and selling food in the afternoons and evenings.

It’s easy to notice the green swamp area immediately behind the building, but one’s eyes will eventually be drawn to the distance where just beyond the treeline there are hundreds of freight containers stacked on top of each other.  Understandably, it doesn’t stem any kind of thought process beyond “there’s a freight container yard over there” for most people, however, for myself I see what I hope to be a glimpse into the future of Thai Song Fair Trade.

Since one of my first few days working at Thai Song, I keep thinking to myself “I hope one day Thai Song will fill up one of those containers in a shipment going out to foreign countries.”  It’s a crazy thought I must say, and reasonably one of my coworkers responded to my thought with, “We’d have to employ the whole community to make bags and earrings for that to happen.”

But, what if?

What if one day Thai Song is so big we are employing hundreds of individuals in need of dignified employment to make Thai Song products at a fair wage rate?

It would be incredible!  Thousands of lives would be changed for the better, because not only does the employee receive the benefits from receiving an income, but the whole family and community does.  Yes, any number of jobs that offer dignified employment is a significant step in the right direction.  However, just take a second to let it sink it – really.  What if one day Thai Song goes beyond employing its current 8 employees to employing hundreds of people to make bags, earrings and other products in response to hundreds of people demanding and wanting Thai Song products?

Who knows what lies beyond what is just ahead for Thai Song, but hopefully in the near future it will be continued growth both in sales and in the amount of empowerment the women employed to make bags and earrings experience.

Join the movement today, and help us fulfill the goal to fill a freight container for shipment to your country.  Make a purchase through our online store or at a retail location listed under the “Contact Us” tab, and get the word out to your friends and family.

P'Lek's son with some of the university students in the background.

From the time we met them at their hotel and drove to Ma Ha Thai Song 2Community until we parted ways after enjoying lunch together it was a great experience.   After arriving at the community, we spent about one hour at P’Lek’s house which allowed the group to gain a better understanding of the community where Thai Song works and the living conditions the women face day after day.  Additionally, Thai Song’s way of doing business and helping the women was explained, and the group members could see how the raw materials were kept before being used, as the clean recycled plastic bags adorn part of the covered area at P’Lek’s home.  After questions were asked concerning everything from the amount of plastic we use to make one bag to why the women enjoy working at Thai Song, the students and staff purchased some Thai Song bags and earrings, and we headed off to enjoy lunch together.  Overall, it was a great group that had tons of really good questions and were curious about the work Thai Song does.

Are you curious about what Thai Song does?  Are you planning a trip to Bangkok, Thailand and want to check out our business and the community we work in?

Feel free to contact us at contact@thaisongfairtrade.org.

Have a great day!

It was only my first day working at Thai Song Fair Trade, but as I carried the recycled cardboard we would be using to make tags for the bags, I knew this was a great fit. A sense of excitement filled me as the other staff and myself walked into the community, and I looked forward to meeting the women Thai Song works with.

For me, this is the beauty of Thai Song Fair Trade.

Working alongside the women employed to make the bags and earrings is a joy and pleasure for the staff. It allows us to see first-hand the opportunity this employment brings to the women, and their families. It also drives us to work hard, and give everything our best effort, just as we ask and encourage the women to put their best effort into making top-quality products. As the meeting started, and we each shared about our lives and got to know each other better, a sense of freedom to be who we are could be felt among the group. Struggles, joys and little day to day things were shared, and encouragement was given to each of the women. We then continued the meeting with making tags to attach to each bag that is sold in order to provide an explanation of the significance behind each purchase and thank the customer.  By no means was it an easy job as recycled cardboard was cut, stamps were imprinted, holes were punched and photos attached, but it was by no means tedious either. It was a great joy to sit as a team and chat away as we took special care in making each tag so the women can personalize each bag they make.

This is just the beginning, and I am incredibly excited for the journey that lies ahead for me personally at Thai Song, and for making sure that my work as Sales and Marketing Director reflects the care, patience and excitement that the women and rest of the staff place into making sure Thai Song Fair Trade runs to the best of its ability.

Let the journey begin!

Need n \ˈnēd\:

a) lack of something requisite, desirable, or useful
b) a physiological or psychological requirement for the well-being of an organism
c) a condition requiring supply or relief
d) lack of the means of subsistence : poverty [1]

I was in the slum today hang’n with the ladies of Thai Song. I was looking at one of the beautiful new bags they had created and joked with my friend saying “I NEED this bag!” It made me think about how often I “NEED” (verb) something. I daily throw around the word need but do I even know what it means to be in need? Sure there have been many occasions where I just skimmed by, not knowing how I’d pay the bills, but was I really in need?

Today I had a woman ask if we could give her work. It’s not an uncommon request. She is in need. She has two toddlers who are regularly sick. She’s tried working outside the home but can’t afford the childcare. We can’t support another woman right now. It is hard to look real need in the eyes.

[1] Source: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/need

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