Another Reason to Go Shopping
In the September issue of Oprah magazine (yes, that is how far behind I am on my reading–and you should see the stack of Fast Company magazines I’ve got waiting for me), an article about Willa Shalit, creator of the social enterprise Fair Winds Trading, which sells decorative objects made by women in Rwanda and other developing countries:
…Macy’s is putting a major push into a new online boutique called Shop for a Better World, in partnership with Fair Winds Trading. “If you shop wisely,” Shalit says, “you get to own this really wonderful object and also transfer money to those who need it–in a straight line. It goes right from you to people who may have lived only by barter and never held cash in their hands before. That’s a very direct way to effect reform. It’s not abstract; it’s not a fantasy. It’s real. Let’s hear it for consumers! You have the power to change the world.”
