Fair Trade Finds: Boutiques at The Pit Building

Clockwise: AsiaAmour, Bisous La and Baliza Shop

Boutiques Singapore is a biannual shopping event geared towards the expatriate community. For its 2014 spring edition, it featured over 100 independent vendors that sell original designs as well as artisanal goods made from all over the world. Most importantly for me, it is probably one of the few boutique fairs in Singapore that feature a wide-range of fairly traded goods from apparels to home decor. Fair trade vendors present at the fair include: AsiaAmour that sells classic, tropical resort wear fairly made by Cambodian seamstresses; Bisous La that sells accessories and home decor items made by craftsmen across South East Asia; and Baliza Shop that sells Bali and Ibiza inspired resort wear.

Colourful tassels made by the children at Ladli. Photo courtesy of Baliza Shop.

Gema Santander, a spunky, petite Spanish lady runs Baliza Shop and she enthusiastically told me that all the products are made in Ladli, a vocational training program for street children in Jaipur, India. Children as young as ten assemble the tassels whereas older kids are tasked with the sewing. Without Ladli, many of these kids are left to fend for themselves and have to resort to begging, child slavery or prostitution. Ladli is run by i-india, an NGO that provides education, artisan training, nutrition, healthcare, counselling and accommodation for these street children. Baliza currently reinvests all its profits to develop and promote its production at Ladli.

I bought a kaftan from Baliza Shop for my upcoming Mediterranean trip (my sad wardrobe is mostly filled with work clothes) and I have to say I am very impressed by both the quality and unique design patterns, made through traditional techniques of hand dyeing and printing. The last time I bought a kaftan was over a year ago through the Victoria's Secret website and was very disappointed with the quality. It was flimsy and crumpled easily, only supermodels like Miranda Kerr can carry it off.

To buy from any of the above mentioned retailers, you can subscribe to their facebook pages to receive the latest news on their upcoming events. If you're lucky, you can also set up appointments to visit their showroom.

One Day Without Shoes, Can You?

Photo courtesy of TOMS

April 29 this year is designated as One Day Without Shoes  by none other than TOMS, the shoes company that popularised the One-for-One movement whereby for every pair of shoes bought, another is given to a child in need. In line with the brand's mission, the campaign aims to raise awareness on children's health and education in impoverished nations by highlighting the roles shoes play in health prevention and educational access.

Unlike previous years, there are no public events in Singapore to support this campaign. Rockstar Singapore put up a pretty cool campaign at their store last year and what appears to be a grassroot campaign was organised in 2012.

Admittedly, I didn't spend the entire a day without shoes, maybe just one-third of my day (and most of it at home!). But what brought to my attention with this campaign was how most of us take so many things for granted. Things such as fresh air, clean water, three square meals a day and even yes...even the shoes on our feet.

Bryan Manuel from Guatemala had his eyesight restored with the support of TOMS eyewear purchase.
Photo courtesy of TOMS.

TOMS have also branched out to selling eyewear and coffee using the same, successful One for One business model. For their eyewear business, TOMS have pledged to use part of the profits to restore eyesights to those in need whereas TOMS coffee provides one week of clean water to a person in need. They also organise annual charity trips for volunteers and fans of TOMS to distribute the donated shoes through the help of their Giving Partners.

TOMS are not without their critics. Development organisations and fair trade activists have argued that the 'One for One' model is nothing more than marketing wizardry that makes consumers feel great but creates a culture of aid dependency and destroy economies of donor countries. In addition, their use of third-party manufacturers have also raised concerns about the ethics and transparency of their supply chain.

That said, it is heartening to know that TOMS are paying heed to these critics and have committed to not only address the risks in TOMS' supply chain but also create jobs in donor nations as exemplified by their Haiti Artist Collective. They are also offering shoes using raw and organic materials to limit their environmental impact. Also, in the context of Singapore and Asia in general, purchasing a pair of TOMS is probably heaps better than buying mass-manufactured shoes in the shopping mall where accountability and transparency is few and far between.

My pick: TOMS shoes collaboration with designer, Jonathan Adler

For those keen on getting a pair of TOMS' trendy slip-on shoes, you can head to Rockstar Singapore and Pedder Red (Ngee Ann City) or shop online via vPost.