The Mielie company and bags are the brainchild of Adri Schutz, a designer from Cape Town, and together they help provide the livelihood for some 50 people (mostly women) in Khayelitsha township who handcraft the products that Adri designs – using recycled materials and as little machinery as possible. Since the business started in 2002, Mielie has enabled the staff to work from their homes in the greater Cape Town area, some of whom have health problems such as epilepsy. Working from home means that mothers can be with their children and transport costs are kept to a minimum. Everyone meets once a week to drop off completed products, check quality and receive new orders. To make the products, Mielie employs many age-old and time-consuming fibre-craft techniques, such as hooked rugging, crochet and knotting.

To reflect the fashion themes of Summer 2009, Mielie has introduced several ranges which will complement the season’s fashion hot looks. The range as a whole is 100% handcrafted which reflects the handmade theme on the catwalks this Spring/Summer. Marc Jacobs, Prada, Anna Sui and Vivienne Westwood all showcased the “handmade” trend. The Mielie collection also has a great choice of bags to suit several of the key looks including the colours of the season - Neons/Pinks/Blues/Greens/Oranges and Yellows as well as the prominent themes of dots and spots, fringing and all things tribal.

Says Adri “To survive in a competitive market, you need to be abreast of trends and the latest colours. We want to create a collection of bags that reflects these fashion trends precisely so we can continue to thrive and offer our workforce their much needed stability. Our bags are so much more than just an accessory. Living in South Africa, you cannot help but be exposed to poverty on all levels. Looking around me, I had the idea of using handcrafts as a potential solution to some of this poverty. People here are so great at working with their hands and have the time to invest in creating desirable products for an international market. By launching Mielie, we have the ability to create an income, put food on the table and inspire people with what we produce. We also wanted to connect the person wearing the bag with the person who made it via our blog, http://fa.mielie.com. Every bag wearer is unique in the same way every weaver creates a unique bag.”

With only 500 bags made each month for worldwide distribution, Mielie handbags are much sought after. Bags are available through the handpicked UK distributor – Cape Gem – whose policy is only to buy accessories that are ethically produced. Carol Lovell, founder of Cape Gem; “It is important to us to maintain our focus on the cape region of South Africa and its designers and employers. So many of the accessories bought today in the UK are sourced from developing countries where workers are paid meagre wages. All of our suppliers, where they employ local people, pay fair wages as a minimum. Cape Gem aims to also plough back some of its profits going to Mielie to aid Mielie projects. However we won’t be short changed on style.
Our pieces must be eye popping, individual and cool - items that women would wear, at an affordable price. To see celebrities like Vanessa Hudgens with a Mielie bag is a wonderful boost for the bags and all that they stand for.”

So with the UK and the rest of the world’s appetite for the bags about to be whetted, the literal meaning of the word Mielie takes on even greater significance. Mielie is Afrikaans for the word corn and corn is the staple diet of most South Africans, and probably the first item on most of the weavers’ shopping list. The hooked rug products also feel like kernels on a corn cob.

As well as providing an ethical wage for the workers, the company has made the decision to make very little profit themselves – with any profit ploughed back/reallocated into projects to help improve the living standards of the weavers and their community. Mielie’s food garden in Khayelitsha to create an organic vegetable patch made by the Mielie crafters to combat the soaring food prices, the wholly Mielie funded nursery school and the drive to provide fire extinguishers for respected and reliable members of the Khayelitsha township community to help prevent fires spreading are great examples of the good being done.

You will love your Mielie handbag – the way it looks, how it makes you feel and the contribution it makes. Get your bag online at www.capegem.co.uk.

The craftsmanship on fair trade gifts and jewellery is truly outstanding. Quite clearly the skills of the indigenous communities who produce such gems are passed from generation to generation so skills like wood carving, hand painting, hand screen printing and jewellery crafting do not fade.

We are lucky to have accessibility to the products of great artisans so we can appreciate their unique beauty in contrast to mass produced generic products that are not, in sharp contrast, skilfully handcrafted and have no soul or originality.

Hand embroidered fair trade bags – there is an organisation in India called Touch of India who specialise in hand making fair trade bags all of which are hand embroidered. Touch of India carries out most of its work with Muslim minorities and aims to preserve old traditional embroidery techniques such as Kantha embroidery, Zardozi and Aari work. It uses a wide range of beads and fabrics in the most beautiful colours and are true works of art. All their products are exchanged for a fair wage.

Hand made fair trade candles – In Kolkata, India, the conglomerate E.M.A., carry on the tradition of candle making by hand. Paraffin was is melted in an oven and poured into a mould or ‘die’. Each candle is left to cool for six to seven hours before being taken out of the die and polished. It can be then hand painted or hand screen printed. Most of the scents used are from flowers, fruits and spices and come from Bangalore. Each candle is a work of art and has been exchanged using fair trade principles.

Hand screen printed jute shopping bags – Earth Bags in Kolkata, India, produce bags made from jute since it is a fast-growing vegetable fibre in their country. It is also 100% biodegradable and recyclable. Some of the bags are natural jute while others have been hand dyed in sumptuous pinks , greens and purples embellished with coloured sequins and hand printed with metallic gold or pink screen prints. Earth Bags gives employment to women and self-help groups in Kolkata and strives to help the environment by encouraging more people to use eco-friendly bags.

Fair trade jewellery – produced in Delhi, India, each piece of jewellery is created from Indian solid silver. Each item is crafted and inlaid with semi precious gemstones ranging from the beautifully rich deep blue lapis lazuli, to the milky moonstone and the opulent malachite. The range of jewellery covers intricately crafted pendants inlaid with coral and turquoise to hand crafted earrings some with finely shaped spirals of silver.

All products are exchanged for a fair wage to help to improve the community’s standard of living and quality of life - not only for them -  but for the next generation.

Shea butter is a natural fatty extract from the kernels of the shea tree found in West and Central Africa. As a skin moisturiser, shea butter penetrates deep into the skin and retains moisture, thus helping to improve elasticity and combat wrinkles. For hair and scalp, shea butter moisturises dry or damaged hair, without blocking hair shafts, and helps protect against weather damage and brittleness. With its composition of nonsaponifiable fats, Vitamin F and anti-inflammatory agents, shea butter can help provide relief from dry skin, eczema, dermatitis, sun-damaged skin, burns and other dermatological conditions.

Unique properties
The key components of pure shea butter are:

• Nonsaponifiable fatty acids: help retain moisture, thus helping to improve elasticity and combat wrinkles
• Vitamins A, E and F: help protect the skin and prevent premature wrinkles and facial lines
• Cinnamic acid: a natural sunscreen that provides some degree of protection from UV rays
• Anti-elastase properties: helps prevent and reduce stretch marks during pregnancy and generally improves skin suppleness

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• Anti-inflammatory agents: for relieving eczema, dermatitis, sun-damaged skin and burns
• Stigmasterol: useful in relaxing tired muscles and providing relief for swelling and arthritis

Refined and unrefined shea butter
The more shea butter is processed, the higher the chance some of the nutrients are going to be removed. Unrefined shea butter is the least processed. It is manually extracted, thereby retaining its natural colour and smell, and most of its nutritional properties. The shea nuts are cracked, grilled and pounded and then boiled in water until the butter rises to the surface. It is then scooped into gourds and left to cool and set.

Refined shea butter, on the other hand, is put through clay filters, which remove its natural odour. Highly refined shea butter is processed using chemicals such as hexane, losing most of its healing properties in the process and is pure white with no smell. The shea butter that you find in most “shop bought” creams and lotions involves the use of hexane. Cosmetics companies use this form of shea in packaged consumer products because it provides the same colour and consistency batch to batch.

Practical applications and tips
Skin care: After bathing, apply shea butter generously to the entire body, particularly to the neck and shoulders. Use shea butter on your hands as often as possible and massage it into your feet to help reduce stress and tensions in your body. Apply in between your toes to avoid smelly feet.

Hair care: After washing your hair, massage some shea butter into the scalp and hair to soothe irritation and replenish lost moisture. Then wrap with a warm towel for about 30 minutes. Before swimming, apply to your hair to help protect it from chlorine and salt.

Shaving: Apply shea butter before shaving to soften the skin and after shaving to avoid bumps and irritations.

Skin conditions: For treating dry skin conditions such as eczema and chapped skin, apply shea butter directly to the affected area. You can also use it on minor rashes, bruises and burns to soothe irritation, aid healing and reduce scarring.

Eileen Murphy is the founder of Scotia Fair Trade, a BAFTS-registered business that promotes fair trade natural skin care products and crafts from Africa, Asia and South America. Visit http://www.scotiafairtrade.com for more information.

www.iapetus.co.uk

www.thetribalwave.com

www.ethicalworkwear.com

These craftsmen and women work with natural or recycled materials using traditional skills to create products purchased at source for a fair price for each and every item. This allows them to provide a better standard of living for their families, their communities and subsequently sustain their local economy.

Indigo Ocean Trading are committed to bringing you products both from suppliers accredited by BAFTS (British Association for Fair Trade Shops) and those who uphold the Fair Trade Principles.

They want to share the beauty and wonderment that we hope every product will bring to you . . .

www.indigooceantrading.co.uk

The eKernel department store offers offers you a wide range of ethical products for every part of life. They consider every part of each product carefully, ensuring that it is useful and of a naturally good quality - with particular sensitivity for the end user and our universe.

www.ekernel.co.uk

Their aim is to make it as easy as possible for you the customer to find ethical companies and products… and for them to find you.

By putting a large number of retailers under one roof they are creating a virtual ethical shopping centre.

They’ve done all the research for you and provide a wide range of ethical products in one shop.

Shopping ethically is now easier … and hassle-free!

www.ethicalonestopshop.com

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www.auro.co.uk

www.ourfairearth.com

In the UK almost every mother looks forward to her ‘pack’ from the midwife and hospital…. the excitement of opening the pack up and rooting through all the freebies inside is tangible in the ante-natal clinics!

But there are a growing number of expectant mothers who feel let down by the contents as they look through the plastic printed bag.

Disposable nappies, disposable chemical filled wipes, disposable breast pads IF you get any at all….. handful’s of leaflets seemingly encouraging you to have a hospital birth, formula feed and buy the most expensive buggy and feed your precious baby from hermetically sealed jars of food prepared by machines in factories!

The Mama Pack is here to change all that!

www.mamapacks.eu

The goats are called Goldie, Myrrh, Snowy, Sunny, Foggy, Blizzard, Balmy, Gale, Frosty, Cirrus, and Nimbus (Oh and their pal, Storm, -a rejected lamb). They sleep in Ralph’s barn at night, or when it’s raining, and graze on their pastures when the sun shines.

When Christine Ralph says “hand-made” she really means just that.

Each morning and evening she milks the goats the old fashioned way; by hand, sitting on a stool in the doorway of the barn.

She then blends the milk with the best oils and butters that she can find, including shea butter, cocoa butter and olive oil; She does not add scents or colours of any kind as these can irritate the skin. She then moulds it, packs it, and either sells it herself from a stall at the local Farmer’s Market, or increasingly nowadays, ship it out to shops and individual customers both locally and around the world.

Christine originally devised the soap to use for herself. She has sensitive skin and hadn’t used soap for years. Knowing that goat’s milk has an age-old reputation of being good for the skin she began experimenting until she came up with this truly excellent soap.

And The Gamrie’s Goat soap was born.

www.thegamriegoat.co.uk

www.paperhigh.com

Save hours of searching the Internet with the convenience of one-stop shopping with their unrivalled choice of certified organic, natural baby gifts and children’s soft toys.  All are made using the purest fabrics and maintaining ethical and environmentally-responsible principles
The purest friends for your children to cuddle and love… ultimate peace of mind for you at The Organic Toy Company.

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Niaouli essential oil (Melaleuca viridiflora) is extracted from the leaves of the niaouli tree, which grows in abundance in Madagascar. Highly sought after for its medicinal properties, the oil belongs to the same family as tea tree oil and has similar antiseptic, antibacterial and stimulating qualities. Niaouli oil is widely used to help clear infections such as bronchitis, sore throats, catarrh and sinusitis and as a disinfectant for treating acne, cuts and insect bites.

On the east coast of Madagascar, near Manakara, a small rural community is involved in the production of niaouli oil. The people of this community find it extremely difficult to make a living from farming and most barely survive on less than a dollar a day. To make matters worse, the area is subject to cyclones, tropical storms and flooding with often devastating consequences for the inhabitants. So opportunities to generate income from other sources are vital. The locals use the profits from the sale of niaouli oil to buy basic necessities such as rice, kerosene, soap and schoolbooks. The community works in partnership with La Maison Afrique, a Swedish Fair Trade Organisation, which gives economic support through advance payments and interest free loans and strives to place regular orders so that the community can plan ahead.

The local pastor, Martin Rakotosaminanana, organises the rural population so that the leaves from the wild growing niaouli trees are collected and distilled. When orders for niaouli oil are received, about 30 local people are employed three days a week to collect the leaves and distil the oil. Before starting work, the community collaborates with the local branch office of the Ministry for Water and Forests. To ensure environmental sustainability of plant resources, the ministry controls the harvesting of vegetal materials and needs to give their approval before any leaves are collected. This ensures that the trees are not over-exploited, thus ensuring that the resource is available for future generations.

When enough leaves are gathered, they are brought to a small production plant, where the oil is extracted through steam distillation. About 4-5 kg of pure essential oil is produced after about 6 hours. The oil is collected and samples are taken to the laboratory at the IMRA (Insitut Malgache de Recherches Appliquees), a centre for biodiversity conservation and scientific research. The oil is tested and analysed for quality assurance and to ensure that the oil meets international export standards.

Eileen Murphy is the founder of Scotia Fair Trade, a BAFTS-registered business that promotes Fair Trade natural skin care products and crafts from Africa, Asia and South America. Visit www.scotiafairtrade.com for more information.

By Philip Stuckey, Strategy Director, Natural Empathy

www.naturalempathy.com

Almost every woman and more than a few men will start looking for a good anti-wrinkle face cream as they get older. Unfortunately we don’t have to be very old before the ageing process begins to show on a close inspection of our skin. Wrinkles (or fine lines, as they are called when they are small) are one of the most obvious effects of ageing and we will all have them sooner or later. The question is, can certain anti-ageing moisturisers slow down this inevitable process? And if so, which ones? And what are their eco credentials?

The age that you are when you start to notice wrinkles depends on many factors including your skin type, exposure to the sun, lifestyle, eating and drinking habits, sleep patterns and stress quotient, but inevitably they will come.

Some people decide to undergo cosmetic surgery to treat wrinkles but this is a rather drastic and questionable solution. The effects of both surgery and non-surgical procedures such as filler injections are temporary and the more you have, the more you lose of the natural look of the face. That may not seem important when you are young, but you may be surprised to learn that you will still care how you look when you are in your sixties and seventies! So rather than call a cosmetic surgeon at the first sign of a wrinkle, it is much better to invest in good skin care products and establish a good skin-care regime.

Anti wrinkle or anti ageing creams are more than simply moisturisers. They help bring about changes in the skin at the cellular level and reduce wrinkle-causing processes as well as help the skin retain moisture. These processes can be achieved by the inclusion of active ingredients that can be either synthetic or naturally derived. Typically, the more mass market a product is the more likely it is to contain a high level of synthetic ingredients due to price pressures and the difficulties in managing the smaller, natural ingredient supply chain.

Good anti ageing creams contain antioxidants to varying degrees, including vitamin A and its derivatives which can bring about some rejuvenation of the skin, so that you get back your youthful smoothness. Some anti oxidants can protect against free radicals which affect the metabolic process and lead to premature ageing of the skin.

When you are considering wrinkle treatment creams, you will need to look at the ingredients and consider what is most likely to help your skin type, condition and lifestyle. There is not a cream that is perfect for everybody. If you have lived all your life in a cold, dry climate you will need very different skin care products to someone whose skin is used to sun and humidity. However, some are better than others in their suitability across a broad spectrum and these tend to be the more natural based products as the active ingredients tend to be of plant origin and therefore not specifically engineered to target a segment of the market. The manufacturers of natural remedies rely upon careful blending of formulations for their beneficial effects.

More and more people are becoming aware of the benefits of choosing natural skincare products and the active properties of pure essential oils. This is one of the fastest growing sectors in the beauty industry as the concern grows about the safety of certain widely used chemicals such as parabens and aggressive sulphates.

It is anticipated by industry experts that this trend will continue as the natural alternative brands establish themselves as a significant niche due a number of factors including a growing skepticism about the often outlandish claims made by mass market products and the general drive towards a healthier lifestyle.

When choosing an active moisturiser it is therefore important to select one that is in tune with you, your particular needs and one you feel you can trust. This may take a little trial and error but you can sure of one thing…what goes on goes in…and therefore it is prudent to be aware of how natural a product really is.

Moisturisers that ‘nourish’ and protect the skin as well as soften it using natural, botanical based science are in the opinion of the author, the most likely to produce sustainable results whilst reducing the risk of chemical contamination or undesirable side effects. The research continues however, and there are a lot of conflicting opinions in this area.

Even good quality essential oils can cause skin reactions in certain people but these will soon become apparent and not cause long term damage. The more likely outcome for the vast majority of people is a visible improvement in skin health without the worry about absorbing synthetic chemicals into your system and the longer term damage that may result from this.

To make things even more complicated however, all ingredients natural or otherwise have chemical sounding names which have by law to be recorded on the label. Therefore, many natural beauty product manufacturers are also carrying the common name on the label too so that their customers are better informed e.g. pelargonium graveolens (geranium) oil.

As with most things in life we have to be well informed to make good choices so it is better not to simply accept what an advertisement might suggest. The information is available these days and in matters of health and well being it is worth seeking it out.

Furthermore it is important to be sure that manufacturers are not simply playing lip service to the natural theme by incorporating only a token amount within the formulation and packaging it all up in non-recyclable containers. Eco responsibility in beauty products is rare but can be found in niche players who put pride in their philosophy before profit.

At Natural Empathy we have a passion for purity and a respect for nature that influences all our choices in product development and in our attitude to this crowded and complicated market. We expect that the mass market producers will eventually be forced to think in the same way as pressure builds for healthier choices in body care. Until then it will be down to a partnership between the niche producers like Natural Empathy and an increasingly savvy public looking behind the marketing claims.

Miki

Eco Goodies

Stand out in their new eye-catching fair trade jewellery with a fantastic selection of designs to choose from.

Their popular fair trade homeware and accessories are created from a variety of renewable and sustainable environmentally friendly natural raw materials, using traditional methods which also has less impact on the environment, and they have also added a selection of fun and useful bags made from recycled fruit juice bags.

Quality products for you and in turn a better quality of life for our artisans. Amba Nature work directly with marginalised producer groups in the Philippines and their beautiful products are handcrafted by skilful and talented artisans.

Amba Nature

Chocolate Couture

The provenance and purity of the ingredients they use are important to them. Their suppliers are independent farmers and distillers who guarantee the history of their valuable plants and essences – so quality and sustainability can be traced from flower to flame.

Pure Light candles are gentle on you and the world around you.

Pure Light Candles

The products listed on their website provide a full description of how eco-friendly they are so you can see the ways in which you are helping the environment. So if you’re planning a green wedding, a guest attending one, or just looking for stylish products or gifts that are also kind to the environment then the Green Wedding Shop is the right place for you.

The Green Wedding Shop