We will be at St. Pats this Sunday, Oct. 23, in Chicago’s downtown loop. There is lots going on at the solidarity market…all sorts of vendors with Fair Trade and sustainably produced products from both abroad and locally produced. Personally, I’m looking forward to all the delicious homemade food options!

Come check us out and pick yourself up a new winter scarf or hat. You are going to want it…

Tell your friends too!

Start:

October 23, 2011 9:00 am

End:

October 23, 2011 1:00 pm

Venue:

Old St. Patrick’s Church Hall

Address:

700 West Adams Street, Chicago, United States, 60661

Now that I’m back in action, today is the perfect day to bring attention to Fair Trade as it is WORLD FAIR TRADE DAY!  80+ countries are celebrating and you should too! Besides buying yourself something special (ie: one of Mayu’s fair trade gifts such as alpaca scarves or alpaca throws), how about changing your habits? This year, the challenge is to incorporate Fair Trade into your daily breakfast routine. It is easy…

“We’re not asking for big change,” said Paul Rice, President and CEO of Fair Trade USA,“ just small every day changes—switching a cup of coffee, a banana, a chocolate bar to one that’s Fair Trade Certified—to empower both consumers to make a difference and farmers to improve their lives and plan for a better future. It’s great to wake up every day and know that you’re part of a movement that has the power to change the world.”

For more on Mayu, find us on Twitter, and Facebook, and hear more stories from the field on our Blog!

Some of the biggest growth was in coffee, which grew 33%. Ready-to-drink tea and coffee was up 39%, which is a result of a new commitment from tea producers. Wouldn’t you like to drink some Fair Trade tea under your Fair Trade alpaca throw? I do it all the time!

More than 700 companies now offer Fair Trade certified products. We are big Fair Trade fans here at Mayu. Visit our online boutique for high-quality, one-of-a-kind, hand-knit alpaca accessories, made from a eco-friendly alpaca fiber. We provide work to women in rural Peru who can practically knit with their eyes closed!

For more on Mayu, find us on Twitter, and Facebook, and hear more stories from the field on our Blog!

Another general Fair Trade challenge is the one of bureaucracy (eek!). Experts have found Fair Trade certification difficult for small businesses given the administrative burden of obtaining the label. Fair Trade USA admits, that automated part is often insignificant in small businesses, and obtaining a certificate thus relatively more complex.

GATF is currently working on developing its own Fair Trade clothing certificate. Small apparel companies, meanwhile, find their own ways to certify their products and the lack of true standardization (especially in the apparel/textile industry) posses big challenges.

Mayu is a member of the Fair Trade Federation and sells high-quality, eco-friendly, one-of-a-kind, alpaca clothing and accessories. We provide work to knitters in rural Peru who decide their wages and Mayu bases our pricing structure off of these fair wages. The women who Mayu employs are able to better provide for themselves and their families as a result of the knitting they do for Mayu and have been doing since we started the company after the Peace Corps!

For more on Mayu, find us on Twitter, and Facebook, and hear more stories from the field on our Blog!

Mayu believes in empowering individuals so they can help themselves. We do this by providing our artisans with small-business education and a  market to sell their alpaca accessories. Our organization simply would not function if both sides were not benefiting from our transactions. Another development-based firm that shares this philosophy is I-Dev International, an organization that is working in Peru (and has seen lots of success!).

“At I-DEV, we aim to achieve True Sustainability, in which “underserved” populations have adequate resources at their disposal, and are empowered to effectively use those resources to permanently improve the standard of living for their families, their communities , and their country.”
-Jason Spindler, Managing Director

I met the founder of I-Dev, Jason Spindler, while in the Peace Corps.  He was high in the mountains of Cajamarca, Peru — about twenty hours from where I was working with Mayu’s artisans in Ancash. Us Peace Corps volunteers just can’t get enough of Peru! We share our education with those with whom we work in Peru and are excited to be instrumental in the growth of Peruvian farmers and artisans. Check out I-Dev and you can even volunteer with them. It will be an unbelievable experience, I promise. I-Dev has just started a project related to Fair Trade in Peru and Mayu can’t wait to learn more about it.

For more on Mayu, find us on Twitter, see us on Facebook and to hear more stories from the field, subscribe to our e-news and follow our Blog!

Click HERE to watch the video and if you are feeling cold, wrap up in an ethically sourced, fairly traded, luxurious alpaca blanket from Mayu!

Mayu is a big movie fan! We also recommend Peruvian films, “Soy Andina“, “La Teta Asustada” and “The Gardner’s Dog”. Do you have movie recommendations for us? If so, do pass them along and we will check them out. Email us at info@shopmayu.com. We enjoy documentaries about sustainability, Peru, Fair Trade, labor practices and much more…

For more on Mayu, find us on Twitter, see us on Facebook and to hear more stories from the field, subscribe to our e-news and follow our Blog!

Earlier this month,  I was interviewed by Natalia Sylvester, blogger for Sharp Skirts. Natalia is Peruvian and naturally, she was interested in Mayu and the work we provide to Peruvian artisans. Read to hear my thoughts on ethics, Fair Trade and starting a business…

Starting a business can be tough, but starting a business that’s out to change the world? That’s lot of weight on a person’s shoulders, and many women are proving that it’s not only possible, but worth it. Just ask Kate Robertson.

After spending two-and-a-half years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Peru and forming friendships with a group of local artisans, Kate wanted to find a way to help them make their skills marketable. So she founded Mayu, a clothing/accessory line of eco-friendly, hand-knit alpacas produced by a community of artisan women in the Andes. The principle behind Mayu was simple: women from all parts of the globe should have the chance to work for fair wages and be independent.

The company is a member of the Fair Trade Federation, which means that it pays fair wages, ensures that there’s no child labor, and is committed to environmentally sustainable practices. We spoke to Kate about the responsibilities that come along with having a cause-driven business and how running a social enterprise has its own unique challenges and rewards.

SS: What advice would you give someone who wants to get Fair Trade Federation certified?

KR: They need to know that they need to be patient. I remember when I first applied to be a member of the FTF, I hadn’t been in business long enough; you have to at least have been in business a year. They need to develop the framework of their business in terms of what they’re trying to do and know that they’re going en route of the Fair Trade Certification, but that it’s something that comes later. You need to be doing the proper things ethically first, and then the added bonus is that you can become a member of the FTF. The FTF does a pretty good job in terms of monitoring each company and deciding whom to let in. They do their due diligence, so be prepared to answer questions and have a very good idea of what’s going on with your producer groups.

I would say in terms of the Fair Trade, there are really great networking opportunities, but it’s a little bit harder for me because my price points are a bit higher than typical Fair Trade products, although that’s starting to change. There’s a little bit of confusion; people naturally assume that Fair Trade is low-end, but that’s not the case. I think more higher-end businesses are starting to consider the Fair Trade and realize that they can ethically source their product.

SS: What do you think needs to come first, the cause a person wants to work towards, or the business model?

KR: It really depends on each situation. For me, it was the cause that came first because I was just so enamored with Peru and the women that I worked with and I really wanted to continue to help support them. At the same time, I didn’t have to work that hard to create a great product because Alpaca is something that is native to the Andes Mountains so everything is 100% Peruvian from start to finish. So for me it worked out really well.

I think the main thing is that people really have to have a passion in what they’re doing to be able to tell their story, to be able to be motivated and to want to sell. But I don’t think there’s really a straight answer. If there’s a business you’re passionate about, that’s great, and you’d hope that from there you’d run it in a fashion that’s responsible and ethical, so I think it can go either way.

SS: It’s a big responsibility to have this cause attached to your business—do you feel it’s a different type of stress than in other businesses, and if so, what advice do you have for dealing with it?

KR: Fortunately most of the women have other outlets that they work as well, it’s just that they make a lot more money knitting and they prefer it. I told them from day one that I was going to try this out and I was going to do what I could. So fortunately they’re not 100% dependent on the knitting and they do have other sources of income which makes it a little bit less stressful for me.  I would say just make sure to have very good, open honest communication. That’s really what I do. I’m very honest with these women. They tell me how much they want to make per item and I base my prices on that so we have very open dialogue. I’ll tell my customers like it is. I think it’s really important to show your personality in your business because it sort of adds to the story behind it. I would say open honest communication with everyone involved and a level of respect as well. We’re all in this together. We’re all fighting for the same thing even if I’m here in the US and they’re in Peru, but in the end we all want to sell more products and find more customers.

SS: What’s a piece of entrepreneurial advice you chose not to take? Why?

KR: Probably to sit down and write a marketing plan, or a business plan, for that matter, because this all sort of fell into my lap after the Peace Corps. I’d always wanted a business and when I got back from the Peace Corps I said, ‘Well maybe I’ll just bring home some product’ and then I sold it and so I said, ‘Maybe I’ll make a website.’ And so it wasn’t really thought out at all. I sort of made all my decisions by the seat of my pants without exactly knowing what I was doing. But having said that, I am in business school now and I will be taking a course this fall, which is called Global Business Planning. Because I think it’s about time now.

SS: What was your biggest roadblock before starting your business, and how did you overcome it?

KR: It’d have to be consistency of products. When I was working in Peru in the Peace Corps, I was there with the artisans at all times so I could sort of oversee what they were doing. But as I started to grow the business and work from Chicago it was a lot harder to oversee what was going on and ensure that the right quality and consistency of products was going to be coming to me. So I worked with the women, remotely as well as the last couple times I’ve been in Peru, to help them to establish a better quality control process. The biggest challenge really is just being so far away. These women work in pretty rural communities where sometimes the electricity goes out and it’s hard to find Internet. My preferred communication of choice is the Internet and they’re not always as Internet-savvy as I am, so it takes a while.

SS: Name two things you have and one thing you need.

KR: I’d say one thing I need would be some really great PR because I have a great story to tell and I need people to hear about it. I’ve been working a lot of my SEO and it’s definitely improved, but I can do a lot better. And on the Internet, being mentioned in the right spot can make you spread like wildfire. So that’s what I’m looking for, that perfect mention somewhere, where it really takes off and it’s somewhere with a great readership and people who are interested in fashion and sustainability and everything sort of comes together.

Two things I have: I’ve had excellent opportunities to travel, which has really shaped my life and my outlook on things and is one of the reasons that I ended up in the Peace Corps and doing the work that I do. I’d say a lot of it is really based on that. Another thing I have is really great access to interns. I’ve had four now, and they’ve all come to me without my actively pursuing them. I really enjoy a strong intern program where they have the opportunity to work a lot and also express what they’re interested in doing, and get out of it what they’d like to get as well. It’s a really tangible learning experience.

SS: What is your instinctive response to “women in business.”

KR: It seems like it’s more in the news these days. People are trying to promote women in business and show the success they’ve had throughout life and throughout history, but more so really trying to spread awareness to the topic. It seems like something that’s become more like a buzzword. I guess it’s better now than never. It’s something that to me shouldn’t even be an issue; everyone should be seen as a business owner regardless of whether or not they’re a woman. But I think having this kind of support and bringing awareness to the topic and having women supporting each other—because there’s a lot we can do to support each other—is key. So I like the idea of networking with other women and sharing information.

To learn more about Mayu, visit ShopMayu.com or follow Kate on Twitter: @ShopMayu.

Check out the Fair Trade Federation’s website and find out where you can buy your own supply of delicious Fair Trade chocolate, coffee, tea, sugar and other treats (which, like Mayu alpaca accessories, make lovely gifts)!

All of this news nicely corresponds with the recent announcement that Berkeley, CA & Boston, MA are the newest Fair Trade Towns! America now has Fair Trade Towns from coast to coast! Way to go, U.S.A.!

For more on Fair Trade, including our recent trip to the Futures Conference, stay tuned to our blog, Twitter, and Facebook!

Connect with Mayu’s Twitter, Facebook and blog for more on alpaca, eco-fashion, and fun Fair Trade adventures!

We at Mayu can wax on all day about how great our products are, however, the best way to find out is to read our customers’ comments! Read their feedback for yourself!

Mayu’s “great handmade products” are of “high quality, with a beautiful appearance, and a good cause.” Our customers “love the socially responsible-ness ” and think our “beautiful products” are “original, practical and so comfortable“! The Mayu experience is all about our “excellent cause; excellent product; and excellent service“.

“Beautiful and stylish products with a social conscience? Of course!”
You heard it here first!

Don’t take our amazing customers’ word[s] for it! Visit our website for more information and gorgeous photos of our alpaca accessories, and keep up with our blog, find us on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook!