Upcycling
Upcycling – the creative reuse of discarded objects and/or materials to make an object of higher value and/or quality than the original – is a practice that we are beginning to see more and more of in the fashion industry too. It is the process of using unwanted and often times waste materials to create […]
Separating humanitarian mission and business
The struggle between meeting humanitarian and development needs with that of building a retail business, is one with which we at the Artesan Gateway are all too familiar. In fact, the tension is all too real for many a social enterprise and NGO, who have the dual mission of providing skills training and employment […]
Artesan Profile: Threadapeutic, Indonesia
A conversation with Threadapeutic founder, Hana How did the idea for Threadapeutic come about? Threadapeutic first started when I was working for an event, Indonesia Fashion Week 2015. I was assigned to make event souvenirs and souvenirs for the media people who were covering the event. The materials available for upcycling were leftover fabric, old […]
Green Innovation in the Indian Textile Industry
In honour of Earth Day we wanted to highlight ways in which towns and communities involved in textile production are taking steps to address the pollution caused. A recent article on Al Jazeera brings to light Green Innovation in the textile industry in Tirupur, India. We are always interested to hear of ways in […]
Travel Tales from Yennie Tse, Founder of Fourth Sector Collection
Through Yennie Tse’s love for creativity and design, coupled with her trained background and experience in business and community development, she has created the Fourth Sector Collection, a social enterprise that is now in the research and development phase. Fourth Sector will aim to create sustainable partnerships by working with artisan weavers in developing countries […]
Unique dishes : Papier Mache bowls that look like crockery!
Social entrepreneur and papier mache aficionado Paul Dass has come out with series of new papier mache products that we couldn’t wait to share! These papier mache bowls and dishes look just like crockery and could have fooled us. Paul is the founder and director of proVision India, a nonprofit that develops practical, sustainable ways […]
Circular Economy
In a blog post last November, we referenced the principles of a Circular Economy, that focuses on the longevity and life cycle of a product. We were keen to explore organizations that support this philosophy and stumbled across an article on how Levis Strauss & Co., has embraced these same principles. In an effort to […]
The Fashion Industry & Sustainability
With our minds and attention still very much focused on “sustainability”, we were pleasantly surprised to see a sign at a well known high street retailer, announcing that they “…believe in forever fashion…” as opposed to “fast fashion”. This implies that they believe their products are built to last, so to speak, but as we […]
Sustainability in Gift, Home Decor and Fashion
This past weekend, we got to visit the Handmade Global Design section at the NY NOW trade show and it was terrific to catch up with some old friends (including Aid to Artisans , Darzah, Child’s Cup Full and Stitchwallah) and make new friends too! With the UNDP’s Sustainable Development Goals fresh on everyone’s mind, […]
The potential of migrants and ethical fashion
Simone Cipriani, Head and founder of the International Trade Center’s Ethical Fashion Initiative recently shared his thoughts and experiences about the potential of migrants working in Ethical Fashion in an article on Huffington Post. Through his vast experience working in the sector to create market frameworks for micro producers in Africa, Cipriani provides great insight […]