Fairtrade Della Bags Connects Online Shoppers with the Women of HoeHoe, Ghana

Della Bags are a perfect compliment to this Summer and Autumn’s mad-plaid pattern-on-pattern trends. Well executed, with colorful, African-inspired motifs, they are quick and inexpensive anecdote to The Boring Tote, but crafted with a simple shape and strap so all the busyness is self-contained in a basic package, which is the key to working with extravagant colors and patterns.

Each bag is signed on the inside of the strap by one of the women-artisans of HoeHoe, Ghana who made it. This direct trade project enables the women who sew the bags to “gain financial independence by providing jobs, education, and skill training.” All the hobo bags (pictured here, and see more colors and patterns on the Della site) are made with vegan, sustainable, West African textiles.

accessories, Africa, bags, eco fashion, fairtrade, Fashion, trade not aid

Starre Vartan is the founder and editor-in-chief of Eco-Chick and author of The Eco-Chick Guide to Life (St. Martin's Press). A problogger and oft-quoted green living expert who has been featured in the NYTimes, Elle, Glamour and Whole Living, she is a contributor to The Huffington Post, Inhabitat, and Hearst's The Daily Green, and is currently editor-at-large for Coco Eco Magazine. An active ecofashionista, she has style edited for Plenty magazine and coordinated runway shows. She splits her time between Connecticut and NYC and calls Sydney, Australia her second home, even though it was her first (as that's where she was born and most of her family resides). When not writing, blogging, or researching her next book, she is trailrunning, trying to cook, or snowboarding.

4 Comments on “Fairtrade Della Bags Connects Online Shoppers with the Women of HoeHoe, Ghana”

Lou
Just glanced at the Della Bags site. Their offerings are really pretty and stylish. What a great combo, looks, sustainability and empowering the people who make the goods!
07/20/10 » 7:59 pm »
Courtney Nazak
These Della Bags are trendy, unique, and, to top it off, eco-friendly. The perfect bag for the average empowered woman. Great find!
Courtney
Green by Design
07/22/10 » 4:58 pm »
Natalie P.
Lovely bags, I wish I could have the orange/green one! That one is vibrant with splashes of fruity colors sewn perfectly stitch by stitch.
It’s so cool how each bag is personalized with a signature from the maker. Great article!
07/22/10 » 5:39 pm »
Alex
They are beautiful handcrafted bags. I think it’s extra wonderful that they are eco friendly and support fair trade. It’s a nice touch that each bag is personalized with signature from it’s maker, because the each bag with it’s vibrant colors and unique patterns are reasonably priced, practical, wearable pieces of Art.
08/19/10 » 2:39 am »