The Breeze decided that the general JMU public would be more interested in other things than my article on Kathleen Temple and Kaitie Atchison, whose collection for Artisans' Hope I drew attention to with a post last week. Here is the entire article, completely unedited. I know it's a lot of text but I encourage you to read it if you have any interest in sustainable clothing or good people doing important things in the community who are being ignored by an editorial staff that needs to get its priorities straight...
Downtown fabric emporium Ragtime Fabrics employees Kathleen Temple and Kaitie Atchison don’t want to save the world; they just want to do their part to make it a little bit better. Together they have created a line of clothing for local fair trade retailer Artisans’ Hope, where Broadway High School senior Atchison volunteers. The rising JMU freshman came up with the idea for the fundraiser, which came to fruition with the help of tailor and dressmaker Temple and the support of the pair’s boss, Ragtime Fabrics owner Belle Stemper. "I'd learn about different artisans and how the process works and then I'd come to work and want to share it with someone," says Atchison, who found a kindred spirit in Temple, a former pastor and religious studies professor at Eastern Mennonite University.
Fair trade is a term that designates the sustainable business practice of paying local workers in a given community well enough so that they can be self-sufficient, which stimulates the global economy and encourages socioeconomic equality. Artisans’ Hope buys from wholesale companies that pay artisans directly for their work. A part of Gift & Thrift Shop Inc., a local non-profit established in 1982, Artisans’ Hope’s proceeds also contribute in part to the financial resources of the Mennonite Central Committee, a non-denominational relief organization. “They do a lot with development and trying to get people to learn skills they can use for themselves and be independent,” explains Nancy Yoder, an Artisans’ Hope volunteer.
Artisans’ Hope suppliers include Ten Thousand Villages, Bright Hope International and Equal Exchange, but they do not sell clothing, a niche now filled by this ambitious design duo. “We were eager to work with them,” says Artisans’ Hope manager Sara Halteman, “it’s very different from anything we’ve ever had.” The garments are constructed from handmade, hand-painted rayon from Bali, a high quality natural fiber that breathes easily. “I tried to keep in mind with the designs what would be flattering...[there are] no zippers, just drawstrings,” says Atchison. “It’s good for summer.”
The entire collection was produced in under two months and features one-of-a-kind dresses and skirts priced from fifty to one hundred dollars, as well as inexpensive ‘treasure bags,’ assembled from fabric scraps. Sizes range from small to large and both women are quick to point out that each garment can be worn by a variety of body types. The collection will be on sale until early fall, subject to availability - within two hours of the fundraiser opening the collection generated more than eight hundred dollars in sales. “I’m really excited that the community has responded so well to it,” says Broadway High School teacher Anneke Martin. “I think it means more to people who are wearing it if they understand what fair trade is.”
Aside from this capsule collection, Atchison and Temple hope to continue working with sustainable fabrics and to possibly broaden their market. For these women, the workplace conversations about trade policy that engendered this collection are part of an ongoing dialogue about the future of garment design. "There's bound to be more of a market for fair trade," notes Atchison, who regrets that Wal-Mart and other big box retailers are jumping on the organic bandwagon as it undermines the local growth that is key to the green movement. "We wouldn't have had this idea much less been able to do it if we weren't [working] at a totally independent store," comments Temple, whose boss, Belle Stemper, notes that there seems to be “a reaction against Wal-Mart and ‘made in China’...A lot more people are saying they want to buy local.”
All proceeds from the collection are donated directly to Artisans’ Hope and benefit struggling artisans around the world. For more information about Artisans’ Hope visit
www.giftandthrift.org, or visit
www.ragtimefabrics.com for more information about the store and the fair trade fabric used in the collection.
