The upcoming months are going to be very busy for Stop Traffick Fashion. We’ve got lots of home trunk shows and shopping events coming up. Be sure to check our events page for updates on our calendar.
In the mean time we’ve been re-stocking some of our most popular items. Our adorable kids bags are back in stock, as is the popular Utopia bracelet.
We’ve also recently added some great bath and body products made by survivors of exploitation in America. We have hand lotion, hand soap and body balm that comes in 3 great scents: Healing Lavender, Citrus Vanilla and Rose Grapefruit.
I’m also very excited to be adding our collection of Magazine bead jewelry. They are made by women in Uganda who have been trafficked due to the civil war. Our hugely popular Wrapped Up bracelet is already on the site but we hope to be adding the rest by the end of the week. 
We’ve mentioned the new documentary called At the End of Slavery before. From the IJM website:
Narrated by actor Danny Glover, At the End of Slavery: The Battle for Justice in our Time takes you inside the violent and ugly business of modern-day slavery — the buying and selling of human beings — from the brothels of the Philippines to the brick kilns of India.
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At the End of Slavery is designed to serve as a tool to open eyes, in the same way that the abolitionists who brought the trans-Atlantic slave trade to an end used this compelling image. Bring your community into the fight against slavery by introducing them to the reality of this crime: Host a house party screening.
International Justice Mission is offering kits to host home screening parties. This would be another great way to tell your friends or church group about human trafficking! The kit is just $15 and includes the DVD, resources and ideas for action. They are encouraging everyone to host a showing the weekend of November 14-15, 2009 as part of the Weekend to End Slavery. If that doesn’t work for you, why not host one as part of the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery?
I haven’t seen the documentary yet, but based on other resources from IJM, I can strongly recommend it! Plus, they are making it easy to tell your friends.
December 2nd is the United Nations’ International Day for the Abolition of Slavery. This will be a great time to spread the word about human trafficking and modern-day slavery! A UK based actor has decided to row across the Atlantic starting December 6th to raise awareness about modern day slavery. Wow. Fortunately we don’t all have to row across the ocean to raise awareness. Stop Traffick Fashion will be hosting a Christmas Open House in Cincinnati on December 5th. What can you do? Remember, even the small things will make a difference!
Channel 10 News Columbus - Friday, October 9, 2009 4:28 PM
Handmade Goods Crafted By Women Recently Freed From Slavery (click this link to see the video!)
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Millions of women and girls live like Tina Frundt once did. When she was 14 years old, she was forced into prostitution.
Theresa Flores was drugged, raped, photographed and blackmailed into commercial sex when she was 15.
Human trafficking is the world’s dirty little secret according to Emily Hill, who has met survivors in Asia whose parents sold them into slavery.
“It’s estimated to be about 27 million people enslaved around the world,” Hill said. “I just knew in my heart I had to do something.”
Hill started a business, called Stop Traffick. She works with international charitable groups to market jewelry and handbags crafted by women who were rescued from prostitution and slavery.
“They’re paid a fair wage to make these products, so that they can create a sustainable income for their family and they won’t be at risk for being trafficked again,” Hill said. “To be a part of that hope that they have and give them that opportunity, it’s really a good feeling.”
Hill sells the goods online.
More Information:
The Department of Labor has recently released it’s list of slave-made goods. You can read the whole report here, or check out a summary on the Change.org blog. This list empowers us as consumers to avoid these products as much as possible. It doesn’t mean all products on the list are made by slaves but they definitely have the highest incidence. Now that we know, the information can shape our decisions about what we buy. Here is a brief synopsis:
- The most common goods which have significant incidence of forced and/or child labor are cotton, sugarcane, tobacco, coffee, rice, and cocoa in agriculture; bricks, garments, carpets, and footwear in manufacturing; and gold and coal in mined or quarried goods.
- 122 goods in 58 countries are produced with a significant incidence of forced labor, child labor, or both.
- More goods were found to be made with child labor than forced labor.
- Bolivia: nuts, cattle, corn, and sugar
- Burma: bamboo, beans, bricks, jade, nuts, rice rubber, rubies, sesame, shrimp, sugarcane, sunflowers, and teak
- China: artificial flowers, bricks, Christmas decorations, coal, cotton, electronics, garments, footwear, fireworks, nails, and toys
- India: bricks, carpets, cottonseed, textiles, and garments
- Nepal: bricks, carpets, textiles, and stones
- North Korea: bricks, cement, coal, gold, iron, and textiles
- Pakistan: bricks, carpet, coal, cotton, sugar, and wheat
We’ve posted this link before but if you want to request that your favorite brands are slave-free, check out Chain Store Reaction.
I couldn’t resist posting this picture of my adorable friend modeling our cute Daisy purse. If you have an aspiring fashionista check our full kids collection. We’ve just added two cute, new items featuring a blue butterfly motif!
The Onion is an acclaimed online newspaper that publishes satire. As such, they often poke fun at sensitive topics and people. To be quite honest, I generally enjoy The Onion. A lot. I like their backhanded, clever jabs at the absurdities of our world. I understand that sometimes to do that they make light of serious situations—that’s what satire does.
But this time they’ve gone to far. They’re selling a T-shirt that says, “My Friend Went to Thailand and All I Got Was This Lousy Kidnapped Prostitute.” The Onion would probably say they’re trying to shed light on horror of the situation by poking fun at it, but this is different than mocking presidential candidate, sports stars, and ignorant citizens.
I think they’re are two reasons that this situation is different:
- The crime of human trafficking is too disgusting for humor. This is the same reason you don’t hear a lot of jokes about concentration camps: it’s too dark and painful to be funny. Although humor is always a matter of taste (and that’s what makes humor so good!), societal consensus deems some things just too far. This is one of those things.
- The second reason is even more vital, though. With satire its critical for the audience to have enough background knowledge of the topic being mocked to get the joke and its intent. The world at large lacks to the knowledge of human trafficking necessary to understand the deep nuances satire requires. The audience—and the writer—need to know the true reality of human trafficking before they attempt such delicate, dangerous, and damaging satire. In this case neither the reader nor the writer has the knowledge base necessary to craft and interpret satire. Because the reader and the writer don’t understand trafficking in the same depth they understand football or presidential elections, the kidnap and rape of thousands upon thousands of women and children becomes a passing laugh. True satire aims to make people think and change. This T-shirt is just a cheap shot.
Here’s contact information for The Onion so you can be a voice to stand up for abused people!
Customer Service
For all other Onion Store matters and order inquiries, please submit the brief customer support form below for an efficient response, or call 1-800-280-1791 between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. (CST), Monday–Friday. It’s an email form you fill out on the store site…
From the website: http://www.theonion.com/content/contact_us
Public Relations:
Anna G. Richardson
Sunshine, Sachs & Associates
149 Fifth Avenue, 7th Floor, NYC, 10010
O: 212.691.2800, C: 917.553.5916
richardson@sunshinesachs.com
Washington DC
The Onion
c/o Godfrey & Kahn
500 New Jersey #375
Washington DC 20001
Fax 202-628-0405
dc@theonion.com
Twin Cities
212 3rd Avenue North, #445
Minneapolis, MN 55401
612-370-1372 | Fax 612-333-0444
minneapolis@theonion.com
