Holiday Giving that Satisfies the Soul

For Immediate Release
December 2005
Contact: Marketplace: Handwork of India
Casey Runyan or Kahindo Mateene
Phone: 847-328-4011
E-mail: pr@marketplaceindia.com

Holiday Giving that Satisfies the Soul

(Evanston, Illinois)—The holidays are a time for giving more than just gifts. As consumers fill stores throughout the country to purchase gifts for their loved ones, they are also thinking about those in the world who are less fortunate. One way to combine holiday shopping with social consciousness is by purchasing fair trade products.

Fair trade provides employment, improved living conditions, dignity, and justice to impoverished communities around the world. By offering a living wage, credit assistance, long-term working relationships, healthy working conditions, gender equality and environmental sustainability, fair trade significantly impacts the lives of its workers.

As consumers become increasingly aware of corporate irresponsibility, more and more are asking questions about the origins of the products they buy. Women artisans in India, for example, are usually at the very bottom of the wage scale in a country where 35% of the population lives below the poverty line. Fair trade guarantees that artisans receive a living wage, so that consumers know that the money they spend is empowering the producers.

MarketPlace: Handwork of India is a nonprofit, fair trade organization whose intricate handmade clothing and home décor items provide an alternative to the inequities of conventional trade between developed and developing countries.

Founded in 1986 in Evanston, IL by Pushpika Freitas, MarketPlace goes beyond handouts and charity. Its mission is to provide artisans with sustainable employment, so that they may not only provide the basic needs for their families, but also contribute to making needed changes in their communities for the betterment of their lives and those of others. “The primary goal is empowering the women through employment,” says Freitas, “If women cannot put food on the table, you cannot talk about dignity, you cannot talk about them making changes in their lives and the lives of their families.”

From its beginnings with only three women artisans, MarketPlace now employs 480 artisans in 14 artisan-owned cooperatives in and around Mumbai, India. With a mission rooted in gender equality and social justice, MarketPlace involves these women in every aspect of handmade apparel and home décor production from fabric dyeing to catalog production to business decisions. This model of development leads to financially independent lifestyles and to gender empowerment for women who have never before been able to support themselves or their children.

Over the years, Marketplace has initiated amazing quality of life improvements for many people. Life expectancy for Marketplace artisans has increased to 62 years from the national average of 54 years for women. The average female child of a Marketplace artisan will finish the 10th grade, while most Indian girls only complete 4th. Marketplace artisans work an average of 9 months of the year; most artisans had no income before becoming part of a cooperative. Marketplace offers no handouts. All of the artisans are trained to become self sufficient, resulting in newfound confidence and self-respect.

The artisans of Marketplace create beautiful handmade clothing, home interiors and accessories. These products are uniquely patterned using fabric-decorating techniques practiced in India for centuries. To view the products and learn more about MarketPlace, visit the website at www.marketplaceindia.com.

The message “Dignity not Charity” is printed on each MarketPlace product and embodies the core of the fair trade movement. By purchasing products that support fair trade, holiday gift-givers combine a beautiful and unique present with social responsibility.

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About MarketPlace: Handwork of India:

Founded in 1986, MarketPlace is a non-profit organization that conducts catalog and e-commerce sales of products made by cooperatives of women artisans in India. Customers can shop on-line at www.marketplaceindia.com. They can also call 1-800-726-8905 to be added to the MarketPlace catalog mailing list or to be directed to a boutique that carries the MarketPlace line in their area.