Fair trade fashions are getting a sunny boost from Eat, Pray, Love this summer. In the film, Julia Roberts’ character not only totes around a fair trade Hobo Bag, but also wears a Fair Trade Winds belt — a wool hand-embroidered cincher crafted by artisans in Peru.
Some of my friends could pull off that intricate accessory — available for $70 at World of Good — though that belt is a bit too colorful (fugly?) for my own minimalist tastes. I do, however love a different fair trade accessory getting popularized by Anthropologie stores this summer: The Perfect Skippers Necklace.
These pretty necklaces are the pride of The Andean Collection, a fair trade company that works with indigenous artisans from Equador to create pretty jewelry out of sustainably harvested tagua nuts from the rainforest.
You can try on the necklace in red, lavender, turquoise or gray before parting with your $68 at an Anthropologie store near you — or buy it online at Anthropologie’s website. The Andean Collection claims The Perfect Skippers Necklace was made especially for Anthropologie, but the fair trade company actually sells the exact same necklace on its own site — except it’s called the Tagua Bib Necklace, available in more colors, and $10 more expensive.
Don’t have $70 or so to drop on accessories, fair trade or not? Then make your own necklace — out of an unwanted T-shirt. My friend Tracy Hepler of green website Your Daily Thread walks you through this easy crafting process in this 2-minute video.
Photos via World of Good and The Andean Collection
Hey Siel!
Thanks so much for writing about the Andean Collection and Anthropologie! It’s great to see Anthropologie carrying more and more fair trade products and so great that your blog spreads the word. I’m the founder of the Andean Collection, and just wanted to clarify that we altered the necklace for Anthropologie a little, but making it a little shorter. Obviously we’re not trying to compete with them though, so please send people to Anthro to buy it as it is less expensive there! Thanks again Siel!
Cheers,
Amanda
Comment by Amanda Judge — August 18, 2010 @ 6:41 am
i don’t think $70 is too much, fair trade or not, for a necklace, as i like to buy investment pieces i’ll wear for years to come. i won’t however, buy from anthropologie, a company well documented for breaking or trashing perfectly good merchandise to protect its “brand image”. i won’t support destruction + waste so i can’t support them anymore, as well as H&M + other such big-box stores. too bad…
jessica o’brien´s last blog ..in preparation for their fated future
Comment by jessica o'brien — August 19, 2010 @ 10:50 am