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Recycled Plastic Advertising Billboard Coin Purses -Fair Trade-India
Recycled Plastic Advertising Billboard Coin Purses -Fair Trade-India
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Made from recycled billboards, these coin purses are a great way to support the environment. Discarded and rejected billboards are collected from scrap shops around the city and converted into these innovative, utility products by women artisans trained at SPEED Trust, Chennai, India. SPEED Trust works with women from the urban slums of the city. These women work from the organization's production center. Apart from the products being sold through the SPEED Trust shop in India, these fair trade bags are exported to several countries like the United States.
- Measure 5β high x 3-3/4β wide when closed
- One stuff pocket and one zipper pocket
- Choose from 1 coin purse or a set of 5 coin purses
- No one bag is alike, please mention if you have specific color requirements. We will try to accommodate your request.
Handmade in India and fair trade imported.
About the Artisans
About the Artisans
SPEED Trust (Slum People Education & Economic Development), is a non-profit organization based in Chennai, India. The organization supports socio-economically deprived women from the urban slum areas of Chennai. SPEED Trust partnered with Baladarshan, a fair trade network of organizations that supports various women craft producers, organizations, and cooperatives working towards creating better livelihood opportunities, self-sustainability, and a platform for their products, like here at Low Country Fair Trade.
SPEED Trust was started in 1999 at Gandhi Nagar Sathyayani Muthu Nagar, one of the largest slum areas in Chennai. The project began with tailoring training for teenage girls from the slum community, who, after one year, were provided with a sewing machine by the trust. Simultaneously, SPEED Trust also set up educational programs that have helped women and girls to choose different occupations and livelihood options.
In 2002,Β 
SPEED Trust began training the physically challenged and the HIV- affected members of the community in the skill of basket weaving. These members were either unable to move or find work opportunities outside their homes. These unique baskets were woven out of recycled plastic (Polyethylene) wires. Apart from these magnificent baskets, the artisans at Speed Trust make several other interesting products which include, bags and aprons from salvaged billboards or advertising signs, and hand-rolled incense sticks and cones. The trust now runs a production unit and a showroom by the name ofΒ VarnajalamΒ in Chennai, where they carry an array of handmade products by these female artisans.
Today SPEED Trust has been able to expand its reach, not only in the domestic but also in the international market. Apart from providing vocational and educational training to women and girls from the slum community, SPEED Trust also gives micro-credit loans to these artisans. The loan facility helps in making them independent and their businesses self-sustainable.
