Thailand, Japan, America

Here is the NEW sample of the robe! What do you think??? I'm in love. It's absolutely beautiful….exactly what I had envisioned. My model is Nong. She has been fantastic, always helping translate, taking me around Tacua Pa on her motorbike and figuring out solutions to all my problems! I asked what she thought of the robe, if it looked "thai"? She pointed to the pattern and said, "thai," pointed to the sleeve said, "Japan," and pointed to the length and said "American." haha I guess it's an Asia meets American robe. I think that's what I was going for….

They're done!

Whoopies…YO!

I had Yo create a zip id holder with satin and the trim in the patterned fabric. We think it will be nice to have two different styles. The only problem…..Yo used the wrong side of the fabric! haha He had no idea that one side of satin fabric is shiny and the other in not. Silly Yo.

Today he created a new one, with the right side showing. I'm waiting for Anne's opinion…

The clutches are almost finished! They are looking great---so cute! I'm trying to explain how important consistency is with the products. I know with fair trade products all are handmade and that's what makes each of them so unique. However, I am stressing that they should try and replicate one after the other. For instance, the clutches have the flower. I picked up four of them and they were ALL different. Hardly similar to each other at all. I picked which one I liked the best, asked who made it, and said teach the rest! haha They are coming along though. It will just take time.

Another sample of the robe will be completed by 5pm today. Nong's sister is making a sample for us. She has more experience sewing clothes, therefore has a better understanding of what I'm looking for. Once the craft group sees a perfect sample, they will be able to replicate it. I'm crossing my fingers that it turns out! (please cross yours)

My A*M*a*Z*i*N*G Team at BTNO!

The craft team has been so amazing welcoming me into their team and being incredibly dedicated and flexible. None of us can communicate with each other very well…I mean hardly at all. But, it has been a pleasure being around them and I'm am so honored I can give something back to them. They now are learning how to create more marketable products for the US.

Sometime in the next few days, I'm going to interview them and ask how being apart of the craft group has affected their life, what fair trade means to them, what was life like before the craft group, etc… Rotjana is going to help me translate. I don't have a picture on my camera of her, however she has been my life savor. Allison is only other English speaking person at the orphanage and she has been gone since Sunday. Therefore, I have been struggling communicating with just about everyone. Well…besides Rotjana. She's Thai and who has learned to speak English quite fluently!

Some good news came my way early this morning. Anne has placed an order for the products I have developed! We are ordering 25 of the zip id holders in pink, blue, green and red. And, she has ordered 32 pieces of the clutches, 8 of each color. I'm going to keep the colors a secret until we get some made. I'm really excited about these!! We also are making another zip id holder sample in satin with a patterned trim. If Anne likes the sample, than we will order another 25. It's just been an overwhelming feeling of accomplishment having the products ordered. Now, I just have to get a really good sample of the robe and the other clutch.

I heard the news the morning and soon after we went to the fabric store. This first picture is us on the motor bike. I'll have to take a better picture so you can really see what we took. So basically it a motor bike with a cart attached for people to ride in. It's quite funny. It doesn't go as fast as the tuk-tuks, but kind of the same deal. We first picked up some of the plastic for the ids, then headed to the first fabric store. At this fabric store, we were buying the fabric for the zip ids. The worst part about the trip is that I am trying to buy fabric and no one around me speaks English. We spent about 10 minutes on colors. Nobody could understand when I said red, purple, pink, blue, etc…I had to point to a color on a different fabric, say the color then point to the fabric I wanted…over and over and over again. When we were finally all on the same page, we had to move on to the next fabric store which is just around the corner. The other fabric store is where I needed to buy the silk for the clutches. Let me just say the clutches are not 100% thai silk, as I was previously informed. Even though the fabric was in the "thai silk" section it is not indeed "thai silk". This would be considered an obstacle when working in fair trade. I have to say it was both fun and nerve racking picking out the colors for the clutches. I brought the forecasted trend board colors for the Fall and made my decision off of them and some advice from Anne. Some of the colors I wanted, they did not carry. There were lots of colors, just not the ones I was looking for. This would be listed as another obstacle, not always having an abundance of resources. We only bought 32 of the clutches, so we will see how the colors sell. For the Spring, we can source out the exact colors we want if needed. The rest of the day was spent sending emails and trying to come up with a quality assurance form.

Product Samples

100% Cotton

This is a very popular pattern/fabric from Thailand.

The i.d. belongs to Yo, the designer for the craft women. He's actually a fisherman, but has a keen sense of design. lol!

100% Thai Silk

Small Clutch

I'm still waiting on the sample of the other style of clutch and the robe.

Kiddies

Thai Silk

Yesterday, we started developing the products. The craft group already had an idea of what we wanted, because Anne had previously sent emails explaining what we hoped to accomplished. They had a jump start on the id card holders and robes, however both were in need of some tweaking.

The first step was to go to the fabric store in Tacua Pa to see what materials were available. We were looking for some thai silk for the robes and a thai patterned fabric for the id card holders. After searching through the bolts of fabric we managed to have some luck with the id card holders. The fabric is similar to the fabric we are using for the wine totes and makeup bags. We only bought enough for a sample. Once the sample is finished, I will inspect it to make sure it meets our standards and will then place the order.

Wen choosing the fabric for the robes, we didn't have as good of luck. All the "thai" silk was course and stiff, not the ideal fabric to use for a robe. The store did not have any other silk to choose from. The craft women had previously mentioned that to batik on silk would be more expensive and difficult. Since we could not find the fabric and will not be able to batik on actual silk, we had a meeting this morning to figure out what the next step.

We had the meeting around 11:ooam. We first topic of discussion was the id card holders. I showed the craft women pictures of the product and the exact size measurements. Yo, the designer, said we will have a sample tomorrow. Both Allison and Rotjana had to help translate to the women what I wanted. It's a lot more difficult than I thought it would be to relay what the product needs to look like. As of now, I think we are all on the same page as to what I am expecting!

We then moved on to the robes. The craft women informed me that there is a batik factory close by. Since we cannot batik in house, we are going to try and source it from the factory. If we cannot source the fabric from there, we will have to find another fabric store and see what they have to offer.

I then showed the craft women samples of the clutches. Kelly and I picked up two different clutches while in Thailand. Our hopes are that they can replicate the clutches, but use the beautiful thai silk we have seen all over. Once we see a sample, we will choose which is the best product for our store. At the fabric shop I bought some fabric for the clutches. They didn't have all the beautiful patterns we saw in the northeast. (We may be able to purchase the silk from the northeast, then have the women at the orphanage construct the actual product. That way we will be supporting to groups.) Instead, I bought the silk in a solid color. I chose the colors based on the forecasting we did during the summer.

After our fabric run, we came back and Yo and the craft women started on the products. Some were finishing up our makeup bags, and Yo began on the id card holders. I'm praying we find the fabric tomorrow for the robes. It will be much easier, then having to source it from Phuket or Bangkok.