We are committed to offering products that provide employment to the most vulnerable members of society.
Good Paper is committed to offering products that provide employment to the most vulnerable members of society. All of our producers pay fair, living wages and provide safe, dignifying work conditions. Here's some background on our producers:
Sanctuary Spring. Sanctuary Spring is a line of beautiful, fair trade greeting cards handcrafted by women who have escaped prostitution in the Philippines. These women were originally forced into prostitution by others or because they had no other means of providing for their families. Now, they are participating in restoration services provided by local charities in order to forge a new beginning for their lives. With limited job options in the Philippines, Sanctuary Spring is a critical lifeline that provides safe, dignifying, and empowering work.
Cards from Africa. Our greeting cards are all handcrafted by young people in Rwanda who have been orphaned by genocide or AIDS. The cardmakers are all heads of households, responsible for providing for the remaining younger siblings in their family. Cards from Africa pays above-market wages so that the cardmakers can feed their families and send the younger siblings to school. All the colored papers are made by recycling Rwandan office materials by hand as an expression of environmental stewardship. View our Cards from Africa.
Banyan Paper Handbags. Our handbags are handcrafted by women of Manila's Smokey Mountain, at one point the largest open garbage dump in the world. People with no other choice in life found themselves scavenging for recyclable bottles from the dump to make ends meet. As Smokey Mountain became an infamous symbol of Asian poverty, the President of the Philippines provided seed funding for microfinance loans to over 2,000 women in two years. The local Catholic parish overseeing the loans created a cooperative to produce beautiful hand-crafted goods. What they produce are more than just handbags. They are unique, earth-loving pieces of artwork. And they represent hope for women building better lives for their families. View our handbags.
Himalayan Mill Stationery. Our cotton journals are handcrafted by artisans in remote villages of Northern India at the foothills of the Himalayas. Jobs, much less jobs with safe working conditions, are a precious commodity. Since women in the local culture are not allowed to work outside the home, we home-based work that empowers women to provide for their families, especially those without a male presence. View our Himalayan Mill stationery.
Our cards come from Rwanda, one of the poorest economies in the world as it slowly recovers from the 1994 genocide and civil war.
