Fair Trade Fashion: Ridiculously Inexpensive Jewelry from Morocco
MBY Passementerie gold “silk” and silver bead necklace ($14) and bracelet ($10); please note that prices may vary slightly due to currency market fluctuations.
Think October’s all about pink ribbons? Think again. With all due respect to the fight against breast cancer—especially when it’s pinkwash-free—when it comes to style that represents a cause we believe in, we’re not stopping at a ribbon.
It may not get as much attention, but October also happens to be Fair Trade month, which shines the light on the idea of manufacturing products from clothing to chocolate at a living wage in order to alleviate poverty, reduce inequality, and create opportunities for farmers and artisans—especially women, who produce the majority of fair trade goods.
Meet a few of our favorite Fair Trade designers, brought to you by one of our favorite sustainable online retailers, Ethical Ocean, where our readers get 10% off through October 31st with “EcoStiletto1” at check out.
MBY Passementerie is a family-run business that’s supplied generations of Moroccans with mashaba, known in English as rosaries. Brothers Mohsine and Abd updated the centuries-old tradition of knotting silk with precious beads by adding jewelry, accessories and home décor to MBY’s line-up, employing up to 50 women at a time who earn fair-trade wages in their Marrakech store and factory.
We’re obsessed with this gorgeous bracelet, crafted in vegan-friendly synthetic silk and silver beads, which contradicts the myth that ethical must be prohibitively expensive. At these prices, we’ll splurge on the necklace, too!
