Our Hands for Hope

Our Hands for Hope

HAND MADE

Fashioning a Business With a Humanitarian Niche

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Sara Designs

For some fashion entrepreneurs, the fashion is just part of the equation for success. At the recent Fashion Market Northern California trade show in San Mateo, Calif., several exhibitors showcased accessories and apparel collections made by international artisans who are often marginalized and in need of work.

Our Hands for Hope

Napa Valley, Calif.–based apparel company Our Hands for Hope was founded by Terisa Brooks-Huddleston, who works with Peruvian women who hand-knit all of the products. The brand evolved after Huddleston met with two non-governmental organizations, Creation Peru and New Hope International, said Cinthya Rubio, Our Hands for Hope’s marketing specialist.

Rubio said Huddleston praised the knitting skills of the women who make One Hands for Hope products but noted that they needed direction when designing for the US market. “The quality of their work was really good, but they were using funky yarns and colors,” Rubio said. “The technique was there, but it would be difficult to fit that taste into the hands of the general market.”

While Huddleston is responsible for 90 percent of the design process, it is a collaboration between the designer and the knitters. All of the pieces are named after the Peruvian women. The company currently employs 60 people in Peru and is expanding.

“It is a fair-trade business,” Rubio said, adding that everything is made-to-order. “We try to make the process as efficient as possible, and, so far, it has been working.”

Each piece is made from alpaca with some wool and acrylic blends to keep the shape of the item. Large blankets can wholesale for up to $174, while items such as a headband wholesales for much lower.

Right now the company deals in small quantities because it can take up to eight weeks for the products to be distributed. The women receive the yarn, along with a sample; set their own schedule; and send the finished product to a coordinator who works out of Peru.

“One of the things we saw as a priority was that the women, many times, had to leave their kids behind when they left for work. We wanted to make it really accessible so they could stay at home with their children and to make sure that the children go to school,” Rubio said.

For more information, visit www.ourhandsforhope.com or contact terisa@ourhandsforhope.com

Sasa Designs

Sasa Designs jewelry is produced by a team of deaf artisans in Kenya under the direction of a nonprofit organization that invests its profits into services for the deaf.

The contemporary jewelry line was started by a larger umbrella organization that works with the deaf, Deaf Opportunity Outreach in Kenya, but the smaller organization operates independently now.

Deaf Opportunity Outreach provided a large investment to fund training, materials and tools. “We brought a trainer in to learn how to do the wrap bracelets, and they continue to build new skills,” said Megan MacDonald, Sasa’s director of global enterprise. “Our main focus is empowering these women.”

Sasa currently works with about 12 deaf artisans in Kenya. The nonprofit provides training, administration and a workshop where the jewelry makers can work independently.

“We basically prioritize single mothers who don’t have an alternative income source and have an extreme need,” MacDonald said. Deaf people in Kenya face 85 percent unemployment, according to MacDonald, who added that this is a unique opportunity for them.

“Our motto is to create timeless pieces that we can update season to season with color and materials so we are not retraining every time we produce a new line,” MacDonald said. “Most of what I do is put colors and concepts together versus a complete redesign. So the wire techniques that are used in the new line are a reflection of trying to bring a little of Kenya into everything we do.”

The Spring/Summer collection works with local materials, including bone and brass, and a lot of the wraps are named after local parks and the colors of African animals, such as “Sahara Sands” and “Horizon,” which mimics the skyline, MacDonald said.

Wholesale price points for the delicately beaded necklaces and bracelets range from $4 to $20.

For more information, visit www.sasadesignsbythedeaf.com or contact megan@sasadesignsbythedeaf.com