Ethical Fashion Blog

Aromatherapy seems to be all the rage these days with celebrities, yogis, therapists and now me!  I’ve just recently gotten into aromatherapy, and I love the results.  I’m finding that I can rely on the scents to uplift my mood if I’m feeling down, or calm my stomach if it’s feeling a bit funny – even to alleviate headaches.  I haven’t had to use prescribed medicine for a lot of things since I’ve started using essential oils; both saving me money and boosting my inner (and outer) energy!  I always carry a few small bottles with me, and when I need a lift, the scent of grapefruit, lavender, or bergamot will do the trick.

The Illinois Maternal and Child Health Coalition, with its 90+ organizational members, works on advocacy and policy development in the maternal and child health field.  IMCHC envisions an Illinois that works towards equity and social justice, fosters the development of healthy families, and provides fair access to quality health care – the basic rights of all human beings.

Looking for tips on how to bring your Mata cotton clothing into the chilly winter?  Then keep an eye on October Rebel, who has a knack for adding the perfect layers to winterize her Matawear.

In this photo, the ladies of sewing center #5 display the garments they stitched from our catalogs.  Thank you to all of our customers for helping us bring these talented women more work in the upcoming year!

Our delightful intern, Michelle, brings you some delights:

Do you love warm, gooey, and decadent chocolate brownies?  I do!  But sometimes all that sugary goodness can make you feel pretty bad about your life choices.  Why not decrease some of that guilt by choosing fair trade and organic ingredients!  Buying fair trade food items is surprisingly simple.  Many common baking ingredients like sugar, chocolate, and coffee are available fair trade from stores like Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s.  Just look for the fair trade seal, and you know you’ll be good to go!

My name is Ashley and I am a journalist at Columbia College Chicago.  I am currently writing a story on fair trade accessories and I was looking for some comments to add to the story.  I was wondering if you could tell me why you think fair trade is so important.  Any information you have will help.  Thank you for your time and I hope to hear from you.

Mata Traders is a fair trade fashion company, and we take both parts of that description very seriously.  Our clothes and jewelry are manufactured by women’s cooperatives and artisan groups in developing countries that pay fair wages and provide safe working conditions.  Our designs mix old-fashioned processes–such as hand loom weaving and hand block printing–with fashion-forward silhouettes and contemporary color palettes. Mata’s mission is to bring fair trade clothing to the forefront of the fashion industry–and to bring fashion to fair trade.

Our Charity of the Month for December is RefugeeOne, an organization that creates opportunities for refugees fleeing war, terror, and persecution to build new lives of safety, dignity and self-reliance.  We found out about their important work through one of our important customers (they’re all important!!).  Sarah Holtschlag works at RefugeeOne and came by our office/warehouse one day where she delighted us with stories of Mata connections.  We’ll let her retell them in her own words.

You might have noticed (here and here) that we have a thing for Project Runway.  The truth is that we have a thing for reality TV in general (Survivor, Amazing Race, Design Star, and yes, even the Bachelor/ette), but we really, really love Project Runway.