Do you ever wonder where the clothes you wear comes from? How many hands does it go through before it gets to you? I’ve pondered those questions many times as I fill my closet with clothes from H&M and American Eagle.
Now there’s a place where you can buy clothing and trace the production process from finished goods right back to the weaver that hand-wove the fabric. It’s called the IOU project. For every item in the online store there is a corresponding entry which features the weaver (in India) who wove the cloth, and the artisan who created the piece. You get to see their pictures, read their story and even see a video of them. It’s fascinating!
From the IOU website: “The stories of how that item was created, of the people involved, of the customers who purchased them, are the essence of the the e-commerce social network which The IOU Project has built as a meeting place for a community that shares our brand values of authenticity, transparency, uniqueness and both social and environmental responsibility.”
Six of the IOU weavers from India
The weavers, artisans, and others associated with the IOU project
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