Where do you shop when you’re looking for a gift for your globally chic and environmentally friendly girlfriend? Global Girlfriend, a unique online and mail order fair trade boutique, allows you to choose stylish goods for your girlfriend that benefit women worldwide.

Founder Stacey Edgar, a longtime women’s advocate and formal social worker created the boutique as a way to provide economic opportunity for women in need, while still delivering women stylish and practical garb, accessories, bath and beauty products, and housewares. All of the gifts and goods are handmade by women’s non-profits and women’s cooperatives worldwide, from Nepal to Chicago.

A portion of the proceeds are then donated to other women’s charities like the Women’s Bean Project of Denver and WomenCraft of Chicago, creating a girlfriend loop that connects the women artisans, the buyers, and those in need.

More than twenty different women’s groups create products specifically designed for Global Girlfriend with the input and assistance of Edgar, ensuring that all of the products are top-quality, stylish, and that the artisans benefit from their sale. The Dosha Organic tees crafted by the women at Assisi Garments, a fair-trade organization started by the Assisi order of nuns in southern India, are both 100 percent organic and catchy, with designs for the Kapha, Vata, or Pitta gal.

You’ll also find Tea Tree Cold Press Soap handmade by the Enterprising Kitchen in Chicago; Bamboo Salad Bowls from the women’s group Au Lac in Vietnam; and African Recycled Rice Bag Totes from the women of Project Gateway in South Africa. The Web site also provides more information about the artisans and the non-profit organizations involved as well as the charities that further benefit from this unique collaboration.

For more information visit Global Girlfriend

M.B.W.

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