Ethnic Supplies Ltd
African Handicrafts enable poverty stricken to lift themselves out of poverty. In many African countries women are still marginalized and excluded from education and formal employment but retain responsibility for ensuring that the family is clothed and fed.
Ethnic Supplies is a social enterprise and supports women in the East African countries of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Madagascar by sourcing handmade handicrafts and fashion accessories from suppliers that support women to be financially independent or directly from established women's groups in rural locations.
We have a range of ethically produced and fairly traded fashion accessories, including the world famous Kiondo, African hand bags and baskets peculiar to East Africa, Kikoy, wraps silk scarves as well as hand made tableware.
Ethical Policy
Ethnic Supplies aims are to promote economic and social development of East African women involved in handicraft and textile production by enabling them to bring their products to the market.
The women we work with are almost always excluded from any form of employment and this is their only source of income, therefore buying our products provides valuable income to these women.
We identify our producers through a referral system, and before we begin working with them a company representative visits them to assess the integrity and the work of the groups concerned. Our purchase prices are determined by the women we work with as they are best placed to decide the value of the effort that they put into the work that they produce. The raw materials are almost always harvested by hand and sundried before they are turned into the beautiful crafts that you see in our shop. Our products are full of colour and the colour is produced from plants or their roots.
Our product range includes
- Baskets- are typically produced from Water Hyacinth, Banana trees, Palm leaves, Raffia, Papyrus, hide and Sisal
- Handbags- are produced from similar materials to these used in basket production as well as Raw Silk whilst some are made from Cotton
- scarves - our scarves are made from fine cotton of Tanzania and Raw and fine silk of Madagascar
- Place Mats- these are made from Raffia, Cotton and Palm leaves
- Beads- the most exciting beads are made by Uganda women using colour magazine paper.
- Costume Jewellery- is produced from cow horns, semi precious stone of Madagascar, Wood, Coconut shells and seeds from plants
In a nutshell our producers use naturally occurring materials that are available to them or those that they can recycle
Ethnic Supplies Ltd is listed in the following categories
Clothing & Fashion / AccessoriesCharities & Campaigns / International Aid
Clothing & Fashion / Fair Trade Clothes
House & Home / Products
