Together, EcoLogic and AllianceExchange recently held a fundraising event in Cambridge. Indigenous was proud to be able to help sponsor the event by contributing a "Winter Care Package," which turned out to be the most popular item at the raffle. We think that Peggy, the winner of the Indigenous Designs fair trade, artisan-made hat, gloves and scarf, looks absolutely lovely! Thank you to EcoLogic and AllianceExchange for the important work you do, and thank you to all of their supporters who came out for the event.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
EcoLogic and AllianceExchange work to save tropical ecosystems by helping the indigenous people who live there.
Together, EcoLogic and AllianceExchange recently held a fundraising event in Cambridge. Indigenous was proud to be able to help sponsor the event by contributing a "Winter Care Package," which turned out to be the most popular item at the raffle. We think that Peggy, the winner of the Indigenous Designs fair trade, artisan-made hat, gloves and scarf, looks absolutely lovely! Thank you to EcoLogic and AllianceExchange for the important work you do, and thank you to all of their supporters who came out for the event.
Monday, November 14, 2011
A Beautiful Event at Cavallo Point!
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Mercantile Artisan Day at Cavallo Point Lodge Featuring Indigenous
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Slow Money Body Language
Monday, October 10, 2011
Scott and Matt will be joining fellow SVN members Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield of Ben & Jerry's who will be speaking at SVN's upcoming fall conference in Philadelphia on Oct. 29th. Just before Ben & Jerry's plenary session, Lynne Twist of the Soul of Money Institute will be hosting a benefit for SVN's Bridge Project. Social Venture Network's Bridge Project is an initiative to support entrepreneurs of color, women entrepreneurs and young leaders who are transforming the way the world does business. Research has shown that these particular business people face greater barriers to growing their ventures and ultimately changing the world. Scott and Matt have donated beautiful Indigenous shawls and blankets for The Bridge Project fundraiser
Friday, September 30, 2011
Indigenous Fall/Winter 2011 Collection
The line is looking better than ever with a diverse collection of eco friendly knits in a wide variety of silhouettes.
Starting with our light weight jersey collection, you've got great stand out tops and skirts and ultra comfortable layering items.
Our jersey is super soft and made from 100% organic cotton.
See our entire jersey collection here!
Looking for something a little warmer? Try a cozy cardigan made from the softest baby alpaca.
All of the alpaca we use is sourced from free range herds in Peru, where alpaca has been raised for thousands of years. It's as warm as wool but as soft as cashmere and has a unique texture and feel all of its own.
Explore our current alpaca styles here!
Our most recent addition to the line is our super soft, luxurious organic cotton fleece.
Made from the same fine organic cotton as our jersey, this fleece is the softest we have seen.
This year there are several great fleece styles to chose from, like the Fleece Weekender, seen here!
And of course, we haven't forgotten our Men out there. Come see what's new in our fair trade + organic men's online store - like this super lightweight long sleeve polo in three great colors!
Shop our entire collection of men's tops here!
Thursday, September 22, 2011
WAKE UP AND DREAM
"If you're paying attention to what's going on around the planet, and don't have your head in the sand, you can see that things are rather chaotic in the human mind globally.
People have two reactions to such chaos - surf the chaos, or attempt to hold on to old identities during the transition.
It's not unlike a metamorphosis - there's a liminal state between caterpillar and butterfly where neither form is readily apparent. How we steer our attention through such a transitions is particularly important."
Read On!
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Territory Ahead Enhances Fall Apparel Offering with Styles from Indigenous Designs
Multi-channel clothing retailer, Territory Ahead, teams with Indigenous to offer a collection of artfully original, handcrafted women's garments. Indigenous clothing is organic and preserves rich South American textile traditions, with fair trade standards and wages.
This Fall, Territory Ahead is offering a collection of Indigenous clothing including sweaters, coats and accessories. The assortment features the chromatic Cowl Sweater - and organic cotton and Tencel blend in a hand loomed reversible knit. The dual color sweater, which falls to the top of the thigh, boasts contrasting color on the reverse side of its cowl neck, cuffs and hem.
Both Territory Ahead and Indigenous design unique, quality clothing from the threads up. Their garments attract customers who care that their clothing is produced responsibly. The partnership allows Territory Ahead to augment its fall offering with styles that are in line with the brand's core values and reach new customers.
Read the full article in the SF GATE.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Bringing the Slow Money National Gathering to San Francisco, Oct. 12-14th
Friday, August 26, 2011
Our Friends At United by Blue
The Blue Movement is committed to changing this misconception. Lead by a committed group of individuals and organizations, the Blue Movement is dedicated to preserving and protecting our world’s oceans and waterways for our own and for future generations. We are scuba divers, fisherman, and sailors. We are educators, activists, and businesspeople. Most importantly, we are all passionate, and we all understand our dependence on the world’s oceans and waterways."
"The Blue Movement can trace its beginnings to deepwater explorers Jacques Cousteau, an avid diver whose own passion for the underwater world transformed a generation, and to Dr. Sylvia Earle, whose groundbreaking research continues to inspire a new generation of scientists and discoverers.
Unfortunately, the waters that first welcomed Monsieur Cousteau and Dr. Earle many years ago now have much less to give. Overfishing has decimated and even destroyed fishing populations around the world, and fish remaining fish are choking on pieces of the 14 billion pounds of trash that end up in the ocean every year. An exploding Chinese middle class population has increased the demand for shark fin soup—and increased the number of sharks killed for their fins to 90 million every year. As oceans absorb the atmosphere’s excess carbon dioxide, the water becomes more acidic, causing once lush coral reefs to turn white and die.
The modern Blue Movement refuses to let this trend continue. The Cousteau family continues to work toward more sustainable resource management in fishing communities and to raising awareness not just of underwater beauty, but of underwater problems. Advocates like Wallace ‘J’ Nichols has started the Blue Marble Project not just to spread the awareness of the Blue Movement, but to remind us that every hand holding a marble is connected to oceans and waterways and has the power to use that hand to do something good.
And that, perhaps, is the very essence of the blue movement: each and every one of us, no matter where live, depends on the ocean for survival. And no matter where we live, we have the power to make a difference in an underwater ecosystem thousands of miles away."
UBB uses the power of business, education, and environmental action to save our oceans and waterways from pollution.
To date, UBB has hosted 42 cleanups and removed 28009 pounds of trash.
Friday, July 29, 2011
Video of our Photo Shoot with Miss USA
When we met Alyssa Campanella one summer day last June, we just thought she was a pretty (well, gorgeous) young lady with an appreciation for fine clothing and respect for people and the world we live in. As she modeled our all-organic, fair-trade clothing, we couldn't have asked for a better representative for our company-- fresh, vibrant, thoughtful and compassionate.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Miss USA in Support of Indigenous Fair Trade + Organic Fashion!
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Group Buying for Social Enterprises: 5 Ways Deals Can Do Good
Offer a sexy deal, drive massive amounts of new customers to your door, and you're golden, right?
There's been a lot of news these days about group deal platforms, and if you're a traditional business - with excess inventory to move, highly perishable goods, or a low cost of goods sold - then a deal platform might be just what you need.
But what if you're a hybrid business that's both for-profit and for-social impact: say a fair trade or sustainable brand that invests in the well being of your suppliers and theecosystems they live in? Will the typical, discount-focused, deal aggregator work for you?
Not likely.
In our experience at the Hoop Fund, working with companies at the intersection of traditional commerce and philanthropy, at best the typical deal aggregator only shows off half of what you do, and at worst it might even undermine one of your core assets (your impact).
Here are 5 tops reasons why your typical deal aggregators won't cut it for social enterprises, and what you can do about it."Stay on target" - most deals are blasted out over an entire city, reaching some people who might be your ideal customers, but way more people that will never be. As a socialenterprise, you need a way to filter down to people who will be attracted by your impact.
The Hoop Fund's approach bundles deals on products that do good, with microloans to the people who make them. Customers get the deal only if they help to fund a project thatimproves the lives of the farmers or artisans making the product.
This is a fundamental shift from the traditional online "deals" model: sure, the Hoop Fund allows for immediate return (lower cost of trying a new product), but it combines that with a stickier, long-term social and economic reward (personal impact).
Discounts are blinding - it's hard to get customers to focus on your impact if you're flashing a giant "80 percent off" sign in their face. To get around this, Blissmo recently introduced a mystery box subscription for eco-friendly or organic products, as an alternative to their typical deal of the day promotion. By making the contents a mystery, Blissmo focuses the experience on discovering new products, not the discounts a subscriber is getting.
Think about the story they'll tell - having a good story to tell, especially a personal one, is a proven way to make products more enjoyable. If you've ever visited a vineyard, a farm, or anywhere a product is made, then you understand the power of this phenomenon. Your visit and your connection to the product transform your experience of it. So learn from thewine industry and make sure your deal creates a good story for your new customer.
Compare a customer getting 50 percent off at your store because she earned it (say, because she raised $300 for a local charity), vs. if she had gotten 50 percent off for buying a coupon. Same customer, different intents, but the experience, and advocacy, of the former is radically different from the latter, which leads into the final reason...
Doing good is rewarding - Good deeds make us happy, and happy customers keep coming back. So be wary of watering down the good you do just to get new customers in the door. Imagine someone saying, "Hey, I just got 50 percent off on my donation to the United Way!" Focus your deals on helping people feel like they're doing more good, not less.
While our brand partners like Alter Eco, Indigenous Designs, and Lotus Foods have a huge need to attract new customers, they also need to pay special attention to attract the right customer to make it all worthwhile: a customer that will care about their impact and efforts to do good, and hopefully one who is going to stick around long enough to help them.
Put simply, if you're a company whose strength is doing good, then your deals should do good, too. You're much more likely to attract the right customers and, in the process, give them good reasons to stick around... which after all, is the whole point of offering a deal in the first place.
Patrick Donohue is the CEO of Hoop Fund.
Monday, June 20, 2011
Indigenous proudly features Alyssa Campanella, Miss USA 2011-12, modeling in support of Fair Trade + Organic Fashion!
“I love Indigenous” Alyssa Campanella
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Fund your sweater and wear it too...
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Slow Money Northern California Regional Showcase 2011
The first Entrepreneur Showcase of Slow Money Northern California!
Slow Money is excited to bring together 200+ investors, entrepreneurs and food & farming leaders who are rebuilding our local food system. Learn how you can get involved and invest in building an economy based on principles of soil fertility, sense of place, care of the commons, and economic, cultural and biological diversity.
Following the Slow Money National showcases over the past two years, millions of dollars have been invested in entrepreneurs who presented their small food enterprises. This event is your chance to invest your resources close to home.
Examples of investment proposals include:
· Strengthen the distribution from small farms into Bay Area cities
· Build a facility for processing grass-fed meat locally
· Convert and protect regional farmland for organic farmers
· Provide healthy food alternatives for low income neighborhoods
Featured speakers include Woody Tasch, Slow Money founder and Author, and Ari Derfel, Executive Director of the national Slow Money organization.
Network with active investors, organizational leaders, local food exhibitors, and visionaries of local food systems.
Be inspired and learn more about Slow Money in our region and nationwide.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Our Special Gift To Our Fans!
Feel free to use this discount towards anything on our website. throughout the years.
We promise to be here for you this Fall for our annual holiday sample sale.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Impact Investing Makes More Than Change
Investors' Circle is a network of over 150 angel investors, professional venture capitalists, foundations and family offices who are using private capital to promote the transition to a sustainable economy. Since 1992, Investors' Circle has facilitated the flow of over $145 million into more than 220 companies and small funds addressing social and environmental issues.
Values with Velocity - Learn more Register Now
- VENTURE FAIR: Capital for Social & Environmental Entrepreneurs
- FORUM: Capacity Building for Impact Investors