LAS OTRAS HERMANAS

In 2008 I designed and built an international fair trade organic nonprofit social enterprise to address complex social and economic violence women face in Mexico, the unequal globalization trade market, to create a vehicle for the voice of these issues to come into my own community to create awareness of how our economic and political choices impact the lives just across the border in extreme ways to inspire accountability and new ways of doing things in my own local community. The aim was also to provide fashionable affordable ethical sustainable clothing for a frequently neglected fair trade market 18-28 year olds.

The final results were a fair trade organic supply chain from cotton to end product within Mexico benefiting two elaborate communities of women in Oaxaca and Juárez, an established local fair trade movement in Phoenix, a fair trade boutique with ethical and sustainable products from around the world. 

Located just across the street (& border) from El Paso, TX is Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, the location of ALDEA, the partner organization participating in and building Las Otras Hermanas, a Nonprofit Social Enterprise resulting from work and research leading to this particular social design by Charis Elliott.