About
OVERVIEW
Founder's story
Mata : Mother (Hindi)
India is the kind of place where a mercedes benz will pull up to an ox cart at a stop light, and a man in an impeccable suit will lean out to ask directions from the ox cart driver, who’s not wearing shoes. The suit will cost more than the ox cart driver makes in a year, but the two men, for one tiny moment, will chat with ease about directions before slipping back into their separate worlds.
Our journey with ‘Mother India’ began in 2003, when Michelle and I, best friends since college, spent 4 months traveling the subcontinent on a round the world trip. After that, while Michelle went to grad school, I went back to India yearly for buying trips, importing everything from antique wall hangings to leather shoes. As my business blossomed, so did my awareness of the conditions of poverty that exist for much of the population. I began to see my buying power there as a chance to make a difference, and on my second trip I actively sought out producer groups that paid their workers good wages and practiced the principles of fair trade.Soon after, Michelle joined Mata Traders as a partner. Our mission is to work with organizations that educate, employ, and empower women. Spending time with these groups has helped us realized that even the most traditional women, when given the opportunity, thrive in a sphere of meaningful work that is outside their homes and families. We have also learned that equality in the workplace IS possible in a country as socially stratified as India. Whether a beginner sewer or the marketing director, all the women that make our clothing and accessories have a voice. We are so proud to be a part of that voice by bringing you their quality handiwork in a high fashion, fairly traded product line.
Maureen Dunn
Owner, Mata Traders
Our mission
Shopping Mata Traders makes good fashion sense.
Mata Traders mission is to provide high fashion, fairly traded clothing and accessories to a growing network of socially conscious consumers and retailers.
Our philosophy
Our products are made exclusively in India by women’s cooperatives who pay their employees a living wage, provide safe working conditions, and offer services like on-site day-care, overtime compensation, and retirement benefits.
Through their work at the co-ops, women from impoverished rural and urban backgrounds can afford not only basic needs like food and clothing, but also something that is far too often a luxury in India; an education for their children.
Every year thousands of children migrate to the megacities of India to find work and send money back to their families. Providing income to women is a way to combat the problem of child labor at its roots, and stop the cycle of poverty. The change can be seen not only in the life of the woman employed by the co-op, but especially in the next generation, and the children the woman can afford to educate.
Another component of the line is the fabrics we use. Most are hand-woven and get their vibrant colors from environmentally safe vegetable dyes and traditional block printing processes. By using these textiles we support weavers and block printers throughout India whose livelihood has been endangered by the shift of fabric production to the factory.
DRESS DIFFERENT - BE FAIR - SUPPORT FAIR TRADE
The types of products we sell
Handmade, sophisticated women's apparel, accessories and jewelry.
Where the producers live and work
India
Projects we support
How we select what we sell
Designed by owner in Chicago; many fabrics and materials hand-selected in India
What makes us unique
All of our products are handmade in India by cooperatives and self-help groups that practice fair trade principles. This means that our producers are paid a livable wage in the local context, and work in safe and fair conditions. We also support home-based industries that keep the cultural fabric of local societies intact.
More information about us
How our clothing is made…
Our clothing is made with care by two women’s cooperatives that are fair trade certified. Both are democratically structured organizations that provide benefits like childcare, annual medical check-ups, overtime pay, and retirement plans. Women members come from rural, tribal, and urban slum areas and have little or no work skills when they join the co-ops. All are subsisting below the poverty line and work to earn extra income for their families. Every chain in the production process is completely managed by the women, and many become socially and politically active in their larger communities.
How our jewelry is made…
Our jewelry is produced by a fair trade certified organization in India that creates avenues of employment for economically disadvantaged artisans and craftsmen in the home-based sector. The goal of the group is to ensure that the entire jewelry making process is non-exploitive, from bead production to the stringing of the necklaces. They enforce strict health and safety standards by making sure that the communal furnaces used to make glass beads are ventilated properly, and by using dust-sucking chambers for their stone working processes. The group also has a strong commitment to combating child labor in the manufacturing sector.
How our bags are made…
The majority of our bag styles are made by two different groups. The first is a collective of women’s self-help groups in rural South India that trains tribal women in handicraft production and helps them market their products. The collective works with sustainable materials such as cotton, jute, and natural dyes, and also offers such services as a pre-school education program, a teacher training program, and community health education.
We also work with an NGO in India that runs a home for street children, as well as an income generation program for local women’s self-help groups. Any profit generated over and above what the women earn from handicraft production is used to fund the orphanage. At any given time there are 60-70 children benefiting from the program, and higher education and vocational skills training is emphasized for those transitioning into adulthood. This group makes eco-friendly products by utilizing as much recycled and reused raw material as possible.
We'd also like to tell you
Customers can visit our permanent retail location at the Andersonville Galleria on Clark St in Chicago, IL. www.andersonvillegalleria.com