Fairtrade
Click on the following to find out more about Fair Trade with Llamarama:
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Our Fair Trade Partners
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Fair Trade Standards
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Our Values
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Mission Statement
Our Fair Trade Partners
PERU
Away Confecciones
Away Confecciones are the wives and daughters of farmers who handmake supersoft alpaca toys!
Caritas
Caritas is a network of 12 villages in Peru where women make their own dyes from local natural materials, weave gorgeous bags and goods and support each other to secure sustainable livelihoods.
CIAP
CIAP is a network representing 21 artisan group-s and over 700 artisans across Peru, supporting them with marketing, pricing and sales.
Mantay
Mantay is a home for teenage mums who have been victims of abuse and cannot stay with their families. The home provides accommodation, support, food, clothing, medical care for the mums and their children. Tey also have a workshop making beauitful recycled leather bags, purses and gifts, teaching the young mums about money management and banking, helping them save and gain employment skills.
Guatemala
MIA (Mujerese Indigenas de Atitlan)
Nestled in the Guatemalan Highlands at 5200ft, Panjachel, overlooks the beautiful Lake Atitlan and and three volcanoes, Toliman, Atitlan and San Pedro and is an area famed for the quality of its weaving. MIA (Mujeres indigenas de Atitlan) is a group of 128 highly skilled indigenous weaver women from Panjachel and the surrounding villages who create Llamarama’s scarves, stoles and some purses and bags. Many of the women are widows and single mothers and all work from home, coming together as an association of three distinct groups to work on the different products. The orders from Llamarama help these women to lift themselves out of poverty and we are delighted to offer their beautiful colourful products at Llamarama.com
"I love the colour of my blue and purple scarf. I’ve got in on and can’t stop wearing it. I’m also wearing a matching outfit!” Sarah Bingham, Cornwall.
El Salvador
La Semilla de Dios Cooperative, El Salvador
La Semilla de Dios, meaning “The Seed of God,” is a cooperative of 40 men and women, who have been producing beautiful wooden gifts, painted in the colourful famous La Palma folk art design since 1977. The artisans’ cooperative is located in La Palma, about 50 miles north of San Salvador, the capital city of El Salvador and they also own some land in the mountains outside town, where through sustainable planting and harvesting, they supply about 40% of their wood needs.
The income from the sales of their products is a lifeline for this vulnerable community, particularly the women who are responsible for their households, feeding their children and growing the family crops of beans and corn. Many of the women are single mothers and their income from sales provides better nutrition and educational opportunities for the artisans’ children. and are also the decision-makers. The Cooperative also provides loans and a pension scheme to members.
Llamarama’s range of colourful wooden gifts from La Semilla de Dios are fabulous presents that also give back to the producers, changing lives for the better.
Our Values
• Handmade high quality products
• Care for people, care for the planet
• Fair prices for producers & customers
• Unique designs
• Ethical shopping made easy
• Transparency and trade justice
Mission statement
Llamarama is a fair trade organisation. We exist to provide opportunities for small scale enterprises to bring their products to market. Fair trade reminds us that trade is about people, their livelihoods, their communities, not just profit. Llamarama is committed to improving people’s lives and reducing poverty through trade. For Llamarama fair trade includes everyone in the supply chain, reaching back to the people who farmed or mined the raw material, as well as those who gave the product its form and shape.
We are fair trade experts. Our unique skillset comes from a thorough understanding of the ethical and fair trade markets in the UK and expertise in working with both artisans and workers in less developed countries.
Dedicated to trade justice and raising awareness of fair trade. Our trading partnerships are based on dialogue, transparency and respect. In addition to working with small artisanal family businesses, Llamarama is committed to supporting social enterprises that provide skills and business training as well as support, rehabilitation and employment opportunities to people on the fringes of society in Peru, El Salvador and Guatemala. Through offering design support and a market for products, Llamarama goes beyond merely paying a fair price but also offers a financial lifeline to exceptional social projects. Our aim is to help more people to help themselves, to be a catalyst for financial independence, and to support the establishment and development of other small enterprises.
Passionate about protecting our planet and this shapes every aspect of our business, from using natural fibres and dyes and recycled materials to banking with Triodos bank (an ethical banking leader), to reusing and sourcing recycled packaging.
Celebrating craftsmanship and small enterprise, Llamarama maintains traditional production methods, keeping operations small and manageable and supports distinct cultures, customs and norms. By using natural products as far as possible and supporting investment in environmentally sound production, Llamarama helps keep the benefits of trade within the communities we work with, using global trade to improve lives.
