Made to western standards using natural materials to a unique fair trade standard, most items aremade in a home-based or small-collective based business in the South Indian region of Mandya, 46 km from Mysore. Some are made in rural projects in the Pushkar and Jaipur regions of Rajahstan.
Our fair trade initiative is part of the positive force of globalisation. We finance keen groups of rural poor into their own businesses to meet demands of our clients for new and exciting products. We train the workers and provide them with business training and technical training. Some fair trade resellers only deal in traditional handicrafts - our producers make durable goods, in western style at western quality, for the western market, often at cheaper prices than those of the monopolistic chain stores.
Unique Fair Trade Gifts doesn't have shop assistants. It has experienced textile and business professionals. That's why we're able to source new and varied products from Indian craftspeople that our clients, from backgrounds as varied as film, museums, architecture, craft, fashion, wedding designers, furnishing designers, textile artists and educational institutions, request. It's why we can provide lateral solutions to problems. It's why we are constantly developing the skills of members of self-help groups managed by rural poor women in South India, and seeking to bridge the cross-cultural divide by taking western craftspeople to the villages to exchange skills. It's why there is a constant program of on-line business workshops to develop the skills of the key people of village self-help groups. This means networking and business training opportunities for our designer clients, the opportunity to have specialised gifts made in short runs offshore, and the possibility for your shop to buy,wholesale, products commissioned just for you from our embroiderers, beading workers, embellishers, felt-makers,tailors, specialist textile practitioners and basket-workers.
When we say, "If we don't have it, we may be able to get it for you," our direct training and finance links to the fair-trade program we partner means we have a better chance of being able to find even the rarest or most difficult item than any competitor... without the involvement of any middleman... even if it means getting it made specially.
