Sharing a photo essay on the story behind Gifts and Graces' premium Retazo Collection. These special bags are made by disadvantaged women sewers in Pandacan, Manila, and Boni, Mandaluyong, Metro Manila, Philippines. Special thanks to George Moya who conceptualized the photo essay with us, took the beautiful photos, and helped us with the copy. Hope you enjoy it and support this beautiful collection that changes lives.

Retazo collection photo essay from Love Gregorie

From the Executive Director

On Making Gifts for People

Hi Everyone, Every now and then I share a reading with the Gifts and Graces team that I felt was particularly inspiring. Among my favorite sources are Brain Pickings, Farnam Street, Mark Miller, and Fr. Shay Cullen. I've been encouraged to share this with the larger Gifts and Graces community. So this series From the Executive Director is a peek inside communications within the team. We hope that in this way we can open our hearts to let you see what moves us. For our inaugural post for this series, here's something I shared just recently on bringing joy by making gifts for people. Enjoy! - Greg

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July 13, 2014

Dear Team,

Sharing an inspiring read for the week from one of my favorite blogs Brain Pickings Weekly on why money is not wealth. 

"If we didn't invest so much of ourselves in what we do – which includes what we ourselves believe, what we wish existed, and what direction we want to move the world in – then why bother doing it at all? As John Green put it, it's about making gifts for people and putting them into the world, hoping those gifts might bring them joy."

This expresses for me why we do what we do - to move the world in the direction we believe it should move. And what a great way to think about our work and our products - making gifts, literally and figuratively, to bring joy. So when we do our product development, when we design our projects and programs, one simple question to ask is: Will this bring joy?

You can read the entire article here: 

http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2014/07/02/how-to-make-wealth-paul-graham-hackers-painters/

The article from this week's newsletter is a great read too.

Buddhist Economics: How to Stop Prioritizing Goods Over People and Consumption Over Creative Activity

http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2014/07/07/buddhist-economics-schumacher/

Have a great week ahead.

LGMP

Coffee Break Conversations with Ms. Vie Reyes

COFFEE BREAK CONVERSATIONS WITH MS. VIE REYES

By Mikaela Reyes

This past weekend, I went on a coffee eco-tour in the Sagada, Mt. Province with my fellow Kaya Collaborative colleagues. Part of the tour was a coffee tasting session in a restaurant called Bana’s Café. My friends and I trekked to the area where the coffee fruits grew and checked out the coffee-making & roasting process that the community implemented under the business model set by Bote Central, a social enterprise that hopes to revolutionize the Philippine coffee landscape. And, of course, we were offered the product of their hard work: Civet coffee. The civet cat eats the coffee fruit, which allows the coffee seedlings to be transformed by the cat’s digestive enzymes. When the seeds are extracted from their feces and cleaned, it is ready to roast and be turned into high-class coffee.

A cup of delicious civet coffee

Little did I know, three days later, Gifts & Graces was going to present me with the opportunity to learn about the workings of Bote Central through their founder, Mrs. Vie Reyes. Through our first “Coffee Break Conversations,” Ms. Reyes discussed the brief history of the discovery of coffee, the business model that Bote Central implemented, and the fair trade practices that their organization applies to directly benefit the coffee farming communities in the provinces.

Ms. Vie Reyes talking about coffee, fair trade and her social enterprise, Bote Central

Coffee was discovered when monks and missionaries observed that goats were extremely hyperactive, even at night, upon eating coffee berries from a tree. The monks decided to try out the berries themselves. They were delighted to find that coffee kept them wide awake even during the long hours of evening prayer. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Coffee was discovered through the observation of goats, who were extremely hyperactive, even at night, upon eating berries from a tree. Monks and missionaries decided to try this diet out. They discovered that it kept them wide awake even during the long hours of evening prayer. Coffee’s reputation then spread all across the globe. If coffee started out with goats, fair trade started out with the coffee industry. When it was observed that coffee farmers didn’t get their fair cost, fair trade industries started to kick in.

Reyes explained that, currently, the value chain for coffee starts out with the smallholders of the beans, then to the agents, to the consolidators, and finally, to the coffee buying stations such as Nescafe. However, this process did not leave a big enough impact to the livelihood of the smallholders.

Instead, they proposed a smaller scale value chain to be implemented in coffee communities: from the smallholders to community-based COOPs/POs/COs to community-based or local markets and eventually to export markets or markets outside of the community. As a fair trade enterprise, they offer goods and services to the communities to aid them in their coffee-making processes (ex. roasters) and also teach them how to reach their broader market.

This model implemented a value-adding strategy. Usually, farmers gain revenue by selling the raw green coffee beans that they collect from their land, without actually understanding their potential values. Green coffee beans are served 1.2x the value per kilo, roasted coffee beans are sold twice as much, while one cup of coffee is sold for 12x as much.

Gifts & Graces staff members sipping coffee while listening in on the conversation

Bote Central, the Philippine Coffee Alliance and many other coffee revolutionaries focus on the farmers, the sector that needs the biggest help. They tell organized farmer clusters to get seedlings from communities, not from corporate sources, they aid them in their sourcing of quality green beans, and lastly, they make innovations to help communities prepare coffee at no extra cost.

Bote Central now has 43 community-based coffee enterprises all over the Philippines implementing the same business model as what I had experienced in Sagada. In these areas, Bote Central was able to help the community members start to own the coffee that they were producing. They instilled in the worker’s minds that it was their craft and so helped them take charge of their businesses. These community-based coffee enterprises are developing and Vie Reyes plans to expand to many more areas.

Hopefully, in the future, more collaborations and conversations between Bote Central and Gifts & Graces will arise as a result of the emerging industry of fair trade. Thank you once again to Ms. Vie Reyes for an insightful conversation!

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Mikaela Reyes, an incoming sophomore from Wesleyan University in Connecticut, is the Kaya Collaborative intern for Gifts & Graces this summer.

A Brief Primer on Fair Trade

Sharing a presentation on the basics of Fair Trade

Fair Trade: a tool for creating greater market access for ACP small producers from Euforic Services

Do help us spread the word by sharing this post. Let's make buying Fair Trade a lifestyle choice to support small producers and equitable trade practices.

We've Moved!

One of our blessings for 2013 was we were able to move to a larger office in May. The office houses the G&G team, our 3 vintage aparadors, and a small showroom.

Our new address is Unit 114 Mile Long Building Amorsolo Street Makati City.
Here's a view of our window. 

We'd love to have you come and visit.
Happy New Year!

Gains and Setbacks in Expanding the Green Market

We came across this interesting article One Step Forward, Two Steps Back by Gwynne (Rogers) Villota on gains and setbacks in the green market. The post says that while there is increased awareness for these products, there remain consumer negative consumer perceptions that are barriers to purchasing these products. What's more the negative perception trend seems to be getting worse.

Three related takeaways for us were:
1. Saving the Earth is not enough reason to charge a premium for green products.
2. Consumers don't see enough value for money in green products.
3. Green products are perceived to underperform i.e. their quality is not as good as "regular" products.

We see hear the same sentiments regarding fair trade products. While there is a dedicated, committed, consumer market for fair trade products or sustainable products, the mainstream market is still largely driven by traditional values like pricing or branding. It is our job to increase awareness but it is also our job to produce competitive, quality products .

The story of empowerment behind every product is important, but providing clients with a delightful product experience is just as important. If clients buy only to help not because they genuinely value the product for its design or functionality or both, chances are they will not buy again and they will not recommend the product to their friends and this is not a sustainable model. This is why we have been focusing on quality and design as well as production efficiency - to prove our central premise that products made by micro-manufacturers, craftsmen, indigenous groups can compete in terms of price, design, and work quality.

To read the full article, please click on the link. One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

Happy Fair Trade Tuesday!

Why Buy Fair Trade? Let us count the reasons why.

There are many reasons why we love fair trade. We buy fair trade because among other things, we value respect, fairness, and empowerment. And of course G&G's fair trade products are also fashionable and handcrafted.

Thank you to all who support Fair Trade. Happy Fair Trade Tuesday!

Millennials as Social Entrepreneurs

When it comes to millennials, we hear complaints about how hard they are to manage. This is in part due to the different circumstances they grew up in - the computer, internet, social networks, and many other things we didn't have just twenty, even ten years ago. Some of the things I've heard are that the millennial generation has a sense of entitlement, has no of abstraction, and is impatient.

As I prepared to talk to the fourth year high school students of Assumption San Lorenzo, I started thinking about the PEACE program and its goal of encouraging these young students to become social entrepreneurs.  I began to see that millenials and the negative traits attributed to them are the very traits that make millenials great social entrepreneurs.

1. Sense of Entitlement - Millenials recognize that the world can be a better place and that they are entitled to it. There are a lot of young people I know who care passionately about a cause - be it ending cruelty to animals or education or the environment. What's great about the youth is that they don't expect this better world to be handed to them on a silver platter; they understand that they have a role in creating the better world they feel entitled to. What's more, they work to get other people to care for what they care about because they believe that everyone should care.

2. No Sense of Abstraction - With different media bombarding their senses every minute, the abstract is spelled out. But this turns into a positive because the youth spring into action. They don't bother with motherhood statements - nationalism, feminism, environmentalism and yet remaining in the sidelines. The youth act on what they believe in by volunteering, by starting innovative programs, by donating.

3. Impatient - The youth want change and they want it now. I think this is admirable. I knew I wanted to work somehow in social development but I thought that I should be financially stable first before I did so. To see young entrepreneurs in high school and college putting their ideas and ideals into action now and not twenty years from now is cause for celebration.

The photos here were taken during the visit of the Assumption students to PAMANA Cooperative, our partner, and the G&G office. The exuberance and enthusiasm they displayed was contagious and uplifting.

As they enter Phase 2 of the PEACE program where they start to work on the product prototypes, I can't wait to see what their creative minds will come up with and I can't wait to see the impact it will have on the livelihood of our partners. Truly, these Assumption students are living their faith in action.

Cheers!

Greg

Students take a photo of our poster of the 10 Fair Trade Principles

Students pose with the G&G logo, G&G Project Officer Jeremy Callegher, and G&G Executive Director Ms. Greg Perez

P.S. I was inspired by the writing and thinking of Angela Maiers and Deb Mills-Scofield on the subject. Here are two great posts: Angela Maiers' An Open Letter to Millenials, and Deb Mills-Scofield's Benefits of Being a Young Entrepreneur.

You said Fair Trade?

Good day followers! 

Our partner ULOT Watershed, based in Samar just released their latest newsletter and guess who's part of it? Please find below the gifts and Graces contribution to it, with an informative article about Fair Trade. Hope you will enjoy it. Do not hesitate to comment if you have any question about it. :) Fair Trade is an equitable trading partnership between marketers and producers that is based on dialogue, respect, and fairness. It seeks to give producers, farmers, and low-income artisans protection from exploitation and greater equity in international trade. Fair Trade is ultimately a strategy for poverty alleviation and sustainable development. There are several labels associated with Fair Trade that one should become familiar with:

 

The first one is the label of the Fairtrade International, or Fairtrade Labelling Organization (FLO), an organization certifying fair trade items. The second one is the logo and label of the World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO), an international organization that certifies organizations as a whole as fair trade practitioners, such as Gifts & Graces Fair Trade, Inc. (G&G). The last one is the logo of the Filipino network of WFTO. 

There are ten principles of Fair Trade that the WFTO prescribes (wfto.com):
1. Creating opportunities for economically disadvantaged producers
2. Transparency & accountability
3. Fair Trading practices
4. Payment of a fair price
5. Ensuring no child labor and forced labor
6. Commitment to non-discrimination, gender equity and women’s economic empowerment and freedom of association
7. Ensuring good working conditions
8. Providing capacity building
9. Promoting Fair Trade
10. Respect for the environment.

As part of the movement, Gifts & Graces is a not-for-profit Fair Trade social enterprise, championing disadvantaged communities in their quest to overcome marginalization and poverty through livelihoods. G&G primarily provides three key business solutions to livelihood programs: product development, market access, and capability building. Empowered to earn an income by producing quality hand crafted items, individuals and communities achieve a dignified standard of living, gain pride and become self-reliant members of society.

You wanna know more about fair trade? Here are some websites:

- FLO: http://www.fairtrade.net/about-us.html

- WFTO: http://www.wfto.com/

- WFTO Asia: http://wfto-asia.com/

- Fair Trade resource network: http://www.fairtraderesource.org/

Jeremy

Retazo, coming to you soon...

Let’s start the day with a quick quizz. Are you ready? In your opinion, what amount of textile is simply trashed each year? Any idea? Ok, I will help you; we are talking about millions of tons. Still no clue? Every year, 13.1 million tons of textiles are trashed and only 15% of those are recycled, when the half of it is perfectly reusable. If you did not guess it, don’t worry, you’re part of the 78% of the population, unaware of the issue.

And now you are all wondering where is he going towards? What’s the purpose of talking about textiles trashes? Ok, let’s end a part of the suspense and watch the following video.

Yes, Gifts and Graces is cooking something for you, something old and fresh in the same time, something trendy made out of what could be considered outdated. We receive many different and interesting textiles from a generous partner based in the United States. But what to do with it? Throwing it was out of the question. Marge, our designer, together with our partner communities got an idea. 

And what if those scrap fabrics could become fashionable? So Gifts & Graces decided to offer its design input, together with the skills of our talented partners and this is what you get: a whole new line of bags, actual with a touch of vintage. You want to know more about it? Be patient, more exciting news are coming soon, so keep posted.  

Jeremy

The G&G 2013 product clinic

Although we've already posted about the capacity building program, we wanted to highlight the product clinic conducted for the participants by our in-house Designer Marge. We never have enough of the good things, right?

The product clinic was held on May 1^st. Yes, it was a holiday, people are not supposed to work. But since our partners came from different parts of the country, we wanted to maximize their time here and we know that our participants can handle it.

The product clinic started at 1pm to give everyone time to sleep-in after the Partners Dinner the night before and three exhausting and so busy weeks. To make it not so formal, the clinic was held in Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf on Makati Ave. Drinks are ordered, we have a table big enough, so time to start.

The product clinic started with Marge presenting the trends, from animal printing, to natural materials, ethnic designs, etc. and discussing how to apply the trends to our partners own crafts.

To apply what was shared during the presentation, the participants formed groups. Each group was composed of people from different organizations, with different skills and using different materials. "You have one hour to come out with items, mixing the different materials when possible" were Marge's instructions.

Who was the most talented in drawing? Some were very, let’s say, arty, conceptual. Group 1 came out with three ethnic bags of different sizes, mixing tinalak from Klo-Wil, canvas and plastic strips from our partner Pamana. 

Final work of the team 1

Tatay Ding, from team 1

The award for the most artistic and colorful work went to the second group. To thunderous applause, please welcome Yolly, Dahlia and Mike with their “fancy collection” a very colorful line dedicated to summer. One convertible bag made of printed canvas, a pair of sandals, both in shiny colors. It made me want to go to the beach.

Their very colorful creations

Team 2's artists at work

Enough accessories. The last group has decided to focus on furniture and decorative items. On your left, made of rattan paper and tinalak please welcome the “center table”, going along with an assorted lampshade and a magazine rack. But this living room line wouldn’t be complete without a chair to make it more comfy to read a magazine from the newly designed rack. 

One chair designed for team 3

Team 3 artwork

The ideas presented here are interesting but need to be analyzed by our designer. Drum roll. She gives her comments, how it could be improved, why this and this doesn’t fit together, etc.

We are now done with the group work. Finally we get to what everyone is waiting for and stressed out by. One by one, they will show some of their items to Marge who will then comment, give advices. One after another, they cannot escape. Everything goes well, participants are writing done what’s said, committing to use those helpful advices in a near future. They come out with new ideas, new possible combination of materials. Despite the fatigue, participants stay focused, and seem to enjoy it. You can see it in their eyes, behind those growing eye bags. Last presentation is done. Right on time it's starting to get late - it's already about 6pm. Coffee cups are empty. Sun is going down. It’s time to end a successful workshop, leaving with the head full of ideas.

Fun Run for Fair Trade - TAKKKBO on June 1st, 2013

On June 1st, Gifts and Graces together with the Community Crafts Association of the Philippines (CCAP) and the World Fair Trade Organization Asia (WFTO-Asia) held its first fun run, to spread the word about fair trade and at the same time, celebrate CCAP's anniversary. Here is the story.

The run was entitled TAKKKBO. The three Ks stand Kalikasan, Kalusugan, Kayamanan to embody the values of fair trade which are to care for the environment, take care of producers (including their health), and provide economic opportunities for poverty reduction to the disadvantaged.

The run took place at the Quezon Memorial Circle at the heart of Quezon City and a popular venue for fun runs, bazaars, and casual strollers on weekends, walking from a place to another, and occasionally stopping by one of those zumba activities, to dance on a mix of old disco songs, R&B and heated up Latino tunes.

On Saturday, June 1^st, it's D day. I was there at 4:30am together with a few other participants who started coming in one by one. I found myself thinking Lucky sun, it’s still sleeping. My two and a half hours of sleep and three cups of coffee won’t make it for the whole morning. Time to be tough Jeremy. “You’re doing it for a good cause, you’re doing it for your organization, and you’re doing it for Fair Trade. Think wider.”

Registration booth

Registration was onsite so more and more people started coming in. There was a slight glitch - the sound system was stuck in traffic so the program couldn't start yet. Legs started fidgeting, showing their willingness to move and run. Excitment and tension was mounting when, suddenly, a sound. For the first time, the noise and smell of an old van was like a blessing, a gift. The sound system had finally arrived. Hurry up, time to set it up.

The program started with a warm-up. The participants gathered before the stage where a coach started moving, jumping, etc., something between fitness and the ubiquitous zumba. The crowd followed, smiling and sweating. 

"Put your hands up in the air..."

"5am on a Saturday morning, so hard"

A few minutes later, the game is on, it's time to start running. The 5k participants will go first, followed a few minutes later by the 3K ones. Everybody is excited, the Gifts and Graces team is on the track. Marge, our in-house designer will run 5K and the rest of the team, 3K.

Marge is on the track. 5 more K to go!

Jo and Jhun Jhun, the new G&G running team

3… 2… 1… START! Time to go. Let’s proudly represent G&G and our advocacy. Also joining the fun run at the invitation of G&G were runners from the Philippine Daily Inquirer and Globe Telecom. The run went around the circle where there were water stations every few meters. There was no feeling of competition in the air, just fellow runners of all ages, enjoying the fun run all together. Runners (and walkers) were sweating a bit, smiling a lot. After about 15 minutes, the first 3K runners arrived at the finish line, a big smile on their flushed faces. Everybody is now getting closer to the end.

The program continued with awards and prizes for the fastest runners with items from our partner organizations and from our sponsor Resorts World and WFTO Asia. The three first guys and girls from each category got their package. 

And the winner is...

Because running is not enough, let's dance guys!

After the “ceremony”, games were then organized to continue entertaining our guests to push their first fair trade experience further. So, participants gamely played "the longest fair trade"? Folks take a very deep breathe, you now have to start screaming your lungs out. Only one winner would be chosen. There is tension in the air. Who has better vocal cords than the Castafiore? Yelling very loudly, they are doing their best and ears of the assistance can feel it. One by one, they are out of breath and giving up. Finally, a winner! With the games over, it was time for the closing remarks, acknowledgements and congratulations. The crowd starts scattering, all moving towards the bazaar to get a well deserved breakfast before going back home and rest after such a fun and exciting activity.

We would like to thank all of you who made this event a success, and we hope to see you soon, in our stores, at our stands during bazaars or maybe at our next fun run. And most important: do not forget to spread the word about Fair trade.

More pictures are available here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.627725597255961.1073741831.434696616558861&type=1

and here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.627733413921846.1073741832.434696616558861&type=3

- Jeremy