Celebrating the Khmer New Year with our Cambodian Artisan Partners

The Khmer New Year is celebrated in Cambodia starting on April 13th.  Our artisan partners will have the entire week off through April 22nd to celebrate this majestical time.  The holiday usually signifies the end of the harvesting season, when farmers enjoy the fruits of their labor before the rainy season begins.  For an insight into the 2013 Khmer Song, please view the following YouTube Video.  

We are proud to support the traditions and value of the country where our goods are produced.  For more information about Cambodia and our fair trade labor practices please visit our website.

The beginning of a business inspired from a honeymoon trip around the world.

The founders of five ACCESSORIES, Christine Hutchison and her husband traveled to Bali in 2005. While there they met a Balinese man, I Make Kichen,  who told them how a gift of $5 a month from an American couple who visited Bali impacted his life in a big way. This small contribution empowered him to stay in school and improve his English, eventually allowing him to send his kids to college, proving that $5 can empower a parent and a family.

Over six years later, Christine brings the story from Bali into fair trade products from Cambodia.  Through her partnership with Smateria, she helps to support over 100 artisans from Phnom Penh, Cambodia .  Believing that the products made under fair trade labor practices empowers people by teaching them viable working skills is the surest way to fight global poverty.  Bringing the story from their honeymoon full circle and showing how just a small amount, even as little as five dollars, can have a change on someone’s life.  

As wedding season approaches, we remember the power of weddings and honeymoons to bring people together in new and unexpected positive ways! Our Must Have Clutch is perfect for any bridesmaid. An adjustable and removable strap can be worn as a wristlet or off the shoulder. Shot silk is handmade from Cambodia with design by La Vie Devant Soie. Who knows what will happen when a bridesmaid with our bright and colorful clutch shares her love for the bride with the beauty of five ACCESSORIES!

Global Activism Expo, WBEZ

Last year our founder, Christine Hutchison, had the honor of being interviewed by Jerome McDonnell on NPR's Worldview.  We discussed how we have grown our partnership with Smateria, a fair trade group in Cambodia, over the past four years to now offer stylish and fashion forward bags that are also using sustainable material in over 200 national stores.  We have seen Smateria grown from 15 artisans to over 100 artisans now offering a daycare center and school that is a free benefit to our artisans children.  

This Saturday, come meet Jerome McDonnell and Barbara Ramsey of WBEZ at the 6th Annual Global Activism Expo in Chicago.  The event will take place from at the UIC Forum, 725 W Roosevelt,  from noon to 6 pm.  Admission is free.   five ACCESSORIES will be among 100 socially conscious organizations making a global impact. Come support and learn how you can help make a difference in someone's life.  Through the purchase of one laptop sleeve, we are able to provide five meals to the children of our daycare center.  

The Face Behind Your Fashion Accessory

The eco-friendly purse or organic piece of clothing you just bought, have you ever  really wondered where it originated?  Who made it? Or how they made it?  Well, at five ACCESSORIES, fair trade is fundamental to everything we do. We believe in knowing 'what's in your bag' or  ' who made your bag'.  Treating people fairly is the basis of our business and our primary purpose for doing business.  

Featured here is Sophea. She has been working with our Cambodia partners, Smateria, since 2005.  She started without any tailoring experience whatsoever. She was hired as a cleaner of recycled tetrapak fruit juice and milk boxes. Just a few months later she asked to try working as a basic tailor. Fast forward to 2013, eight years later,  she is currently the chief of Smateria's wallets production room. Wallets are technically the most difficult product to sew. (five currently carries two of those recycled wallets.)

This hardworking wife and mother of two, was unemployed prior to working with Smateria and her husband has always worked as a moto taxi driver. She is originally from the country side and recently bought her own house in her homeland - a big investment for her children and a safe place for her and her husband to retire to one day.

Sophea is just one face behind our Cambodian products whom we are helping. The five brand is not only about eco friendly handbags, it is about people.

Resource: Smateria

As you know, Giving Back is part of our mission statement.

Several of the women employed in our program in Cambodia have been victims of human trafficking and sex slavery. Most of you are probably aware that human trafficking is a global problem that is embedded in a web of poverty, political transition, inadequate female education and economic opportunity and the low value placed on women and children. The International Organization for Migration estimates as many as 4 million people are trafficked each year, a quarter of which are children. Trafficking is a $10 billion dollar a year business. In Asia, women and children are trafficked into prostitution and forced labor within their own countries as well as overseas.

Our eco fashion bags and accessories are handmade by Smateria in Phnom Phem, Cambodia. All of Smateria's products are handmade by Cambodian craftsman and women employed in line with fair trade principles. The company currently employs over 85 permanent staff and 15 outsourced families.

Buy locally and support globally by purchasing one of our sustainable bags and fair trade totes using recycled mosquito netting from Cambodia partners Smateria.

Top holiday tech gift ideas

Still thinking of what to get everyone on your list.  Consider:

Gift for the iPad:  Our shoulder bag made from recycled netting.  The durable yet light weight bag is padded and had five pockets.  Our best seller is the copper, olive and deep purple.

Gift for the iPhone:   Our wallet with a zipper pocket is designed to fit the iPhone.  With an outside pocket for your bus pass or credit cards and key ring, it is the perfect items to carry around the college campus or to and from the water cooler at work.  Best selling colors are

Gift for the e-reader:   Looking for a bag that just fits your kindly fire?  Our new hip bag is designed to be worn three ways:  cross body, over the shoulder or around the hip.  With an outside zipper pocket and inside pocket for your phone, this has been one of our best selling size bags this season.

Check out more styles at www.fiveaccessories.com

When buying this holiday season.. consider the value of Fair Trade items. Perhaps you have heard the term. Fair Trade is a business model centered around providing a living wage for producers, safe and empowering working conditions, and environmentally friendly practices. Fair Trade companies help individuals in Third World Countries or Developing Areas to lift themselves out of poverty, invest in their communities, protect the environment, and develop skills necessary to compete in a global environment. If you would like to learn more about Fair Trade please visit the Fair Trade Federation or Chicago Fair Trade.Or if you would like to stay informed about our upcoming events, current promotions and receive special discount offers, please consider signing up for our newsletter and to read morefive ACCESSORIES

at https://www.fiveaccessories.com/about-fair-trade.

Global Activism: Fair trade women's accessories help support artisans in Indonesia and Cambodia

(Courtesy of five ACCESSORIES)
The women of Smateria in Cambodia
make products for the U.S. market

Each week on Global Activism we feature individuals who are trying to make a difference. Christine Hutchison is the founder of five ACCESSORIES. They’re a fair trade organization based in Chicago. They sell women’s accessories, things like shoulder bags, wallets and purses. The profits help support the artisans that make the products. Christine tells Worldview how it how it all works.

To hear more stories of people making a difference, check out the Global Activism page, where you can also suggest a person or organization for the series. Or, email your suggestions to worldview@wbez.org and put “Global Activism” in the subject line. Also, don't forget to subscribe to the podcast.

We are thrilled to be here at New York's Intl Gift Fair! If you happen to be at the show, please stop by and introduce yourself! five Accessories can be found in Booth #7052.

five ACCESSORIES Joins Leading Reward Shopping Sites

Reward yourself today! Are you a member of Upromise (earn 3% back)? AAdvantage or United Shopping Mall? Priority Club? You can now shop through these program websites to earn rewards when shopping with us!

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