Why Green Giraffe

HOW and WHY IT MATTERS…                                    

To help ensure Fair Trade, quality and value we travel several weeks a year to the artisan’s communities. Therefore we eliminate or minimize the middleman in the purchasing chain. The biggest advantages are we eliminate or minimize the middleman in the purchasing chain. 

The biggest advantages are:

• Able to help insure the artisan doing the work gets paid fairly
• Less costs paid for final product
• We can pass the savings on to the customer
• Better control of quality and production (delivery)
• Work directly with Artisans – which is the fun part                                   

An example how many products from some other US suppliers are marked up:

Many products are made in a remote community. Often someone will travel to these remote areas to pick up products – mark them up- then deliver the products to the closest city or town. Than a second individual will pick them up – mark them up again- and often delivers them to an exporter near the port who will add another mark-up and sell them internationally.

The real story is the beautiful ARTISANS that you, our customer, empower us to help provide jobs and enable them to share their art with the world.

   

 We want to give back:

• Initiated and worked on a $10,000 donation from the Como Foundation to the Mantay House for abused teenage mothers. Click here for more information on Mantay House.
• Collected and delivered over 500 pair of shoes to rural African Children
• Collected and delivered  hundreds of pieces of clothing to rural children in Peru and Guatemala
• Set-up a workshop in Johannesburg, South Africa for 80 artisans that included tools, supplies and a lunch program
• Continually work with many Artisan co-ops and groups developing new products using their traditional technique

    
 The beautiful women & children from Mantay House       Kay learning how to make a Worry doll - Guatemala           New shoes donated by Green Giraffe & Friends - Africa

We don't just send a check…

We have spent over 650 days (almost 2 years worth) in over 35 buying trips working with our artisans and in their communities in the following countries.

Africa - South Africa, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Swaziland

South America - Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Columbia

Central America - Guatemala, El Salvador

Caribbean - Haiti

 

A quick overview of our company:

December 1999

Kay and Mike, along with their two children, Brooke and Grant, went on a four month family mission trip to South Africa. Click here for more details

April 2000

While in South Africa we discovered the beautiful handmade indigenous art.

August 2000

Wanting to maintain our connection to Africa and make a difference in their lives, we started a wholesale company specializing in Indigenous art & craft from Africa.

September 2000

Aid to Artisans sponsored Mike to attend a four week buying trip to South and Central America, including the countries: Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Columbia, El Salvador and Guatemala. 

January 2005

Introduced several new products into the mix from Central and South America.

September 2007

Aid to Artisans sponsored Mike on a week buying trip to Haiti.

2000 to Present

Mike and Kay cumulatively have made over 35 buying trips with many being longer than two weeks in the field.  These trips were are very rewarding and generally involve very long days and less than ideal accommodations-    We LOVE IT.

We also like to have some fun……