Special Slow Celebrations
15 Gifts From The Heart: Wonderful Presents With A Social Conscience
1For many of us, ’tis the season for rampant consumerism, exuberant spending and buyer’s (or rather gifter’s) remorse. This holiday season, choose gifts that don’t just put a smile on the face of the person receiving them. These thoughtful presents also make a difference to the artisans who create them, the organisations that sell them and the communities they support.
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Special Slow Celebrations
15 Gifts From The Heart: Wonderful Presents With A Social Conscience.
2LSTN’s mission is based loosely on the buy-one-donate-one principle pioneered by Toms, which has seen unparalleled success (and received its fair share of criticism). Of course, headphones aren’t exactly an essential gadget, so instead, for each “listening device” bought, a hearing aid is provided for someone who can’t afford one. Much like Toms, their product is seriously stylish and well-priced – but unlike the shoe company, they can’t be faulted for undermining a local market by shipping in their product. lstnsound.co
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Special Slow Celebrations
15 Gifts From The Heart: Wonderful Presents With A Social Conscience.
2Each piece of jewellery available through Thirty One Bits is handmade by artisans in Uganda and Indonesia. Every purchase enables them to earn a fair wage and preserve traditional techniques that have been sidelined in an age of mass production. The colourful beads that make up the core of the collection are made from recycled paper, so you can add sustainability to the list of virtues. They’re really pretty, too. 31bits.com [Photo: Trever Hoehne]
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Special Slow Celebrations
15 Gifts From The Heart: Wonderful Presents With A Social Conscience.
4The Big Issue – and similar street newspapers around the world – produce great journalism, often covering social issues neglected by the mainstream media. They also give homeless people an opportunity to work their way off the streets. A subscription for that voracious reader in your life is not just a gift that gives back, but also a gift that keeps on giving, as the new issue arrives month after month. bigissue.com
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Special Slow Celebrations
15 Gifts From The Heart: Wonderful Presents With A Social Conscience.
5The handbags at Sarah’s Bag aren’t just the most glamorous accessories with a cause we’ve ever come across, they also give back a lot – if only because of how labour-intense their intricate designs are. More hours spent making a bag means more work for the female prisoners (and other underprivileged women) who create these pieces of wearable art, and means more opportunity for them to acquire certificates for their training, which will enable them to find work once they are released. shop.sarahsbag.com
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Special Slow Celebrations
15 Gifts From The Heart: Wonderful Presents With A Social Conscience.
6Like the idea of supporting prisoners by giving them the opportunity to work while doing time, thus offering them a better chance at a fresh start once released? Many prisons sell products made in their workshops in on-site gift shops, but if you aren’t ready to go shopping at the clink, the needlework sold online by British organisation Fine Cell Work ships internationally. shop.finecellwork.co.uk
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Special Slow Celebrations
15 Gifts From The Heart: Wonderful Presents With A Social Conscience.
7Products don’t have to be made in a third-world country or by disadvantaged minorities to do good. Project Repat turns T-shirts – garments that are usually produced in low-cost countries, sometimes under horrific conditions – into cosy quilts. Not only do they make for a quirky, personal and sustainable gift, they are produced under fair conditions in the USA. projectrepat.com
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Special Slow Celebrations
15 Gifts From The Heart: Wonderful Presents With A Social Conscience.
8A veggie box isn’t just for the eco foodie in your life. Community-supported agriculture enables farmers to work more sustainably and keep their produce local, while cutting food miles and encouraging a shift away from monocultures, benefiting both flora and fauna. You can subscribe to one specific product, like potatoes or oranges, or simply let a local farm provide a friend with a selection of produce on a regular basis. localharvest.org
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Special Slow Celebrations
15 Gifts From The Heart: Wonderful Presents With A Social Conscience.
9Funny names aside, Punjammies nail a laid-back boho look that will appeal to women of all ages. Each pair of lounge pants is made in India (which is where Punjab is, get it?) by women seeking an alternative to sex work. Whether or not one pair of twee-ly named pants can help do away with human trafficking and sex slavery, they can at least make a difference to the woman who made them. sudara.org
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Special Slow Celebrations
15 Gifts From The Heart: Wonderful Presents With A Social Conscience.
10If there’s one demographic that’s likely to appreciate a gift that gives back, it’s yogis. After all, even the most secular yoga practices involve some sort of spiritual element – one that involves connecting body to mind, as well as the self to the world around us. A mala helps focus the mind during yoga practice. Those sold online by Nintaanzi were handmade by women in the Peruvian Amazon. nintaanzi.com
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Special Slow Celebrations
15 Gifts From The Heart: Wonderful Presents With A Social Conscience.
11Terrible labour conditions, dubious provenance of minerals and metals, and difficulty or impossibility of repairs are widely accepted as a necessary evil in mobile phone production, but most of us can’t NOT own a smartphone. Enter Fairphone, which is addressing those concerns and in 2013 brought the world’s first ethical, modular smartphone to market, which sold out within weeks. The Fairphone 2 won’t ship until January, but gift a voucher, and the recipient will have the unboxing to look forward to! fairphone.com
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Special Slow Celebrations
15 Gifts From The Heart: Wonderful Presents With A Social Conscience.
12Most of the festivities celebrated by different cultures and religions around the world in December are about bringing light into the dark. Tap into that symbolism with a solar jar, a simple yet effective design object that is handmade in South Africa, bringing employment to townships. Add a personal touch by filling it with mementos, artwork or plants. solar-jar.com
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Special Slow Celebrations
15 Gifts From The Heart: Wonderful Presents With A Social Conscience.
13We all know bees are important for our entire ecosystem, and the fact that their populations are in decline is a major concern. Beekeeping has become a popular hobby, and urban apiaries are a major trend. However, a beehive starter kit is a bit of an overwhelming gift for a friend or family member, so why not get them started with a wild bee house or even solitary bees? They require less care, but are better pollinators than honey bees. Check out Grow Wild’s website to find out how to build your own solitary bee house to gift. growwilduk.com
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Special Slow Celebrations
15 Gifts From The Heart: Wonderful Presents With A Social Conscience.
14You know how delighted and proud kids are when their art is displayed – on the fridge, in a parent’s office or even framed on the wall. So, if nothing else, you can be sure that a child in Tanzania is thrilled that you are buying a t-shirt based on their drawing. But of course there’s more: The shirts are also produced fairly in Tanzania, and profits go back to the very school that child is attending. kipepeo-clothing.com
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Special Slow Celebrations
15 Gifts From The Heart: Wonderful Presents With A Social Conscience.
15Bureo products aren’t just eco-friendly because they’re made from recycled plastic. Fishing communities in Chile are given incentives to contribute worn out nets, which helps those communities and prevents the nets from becoming a threat to marine life. The nets are then recycled and – voilà – here’s a brand new skateboard or an eco-friendly pair of sunglasses. bureo.co
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Special Slow Celebrations
15 Gifts From The Heart: Wonderful Presents With A Social Conscience.
16Haven’t found what you’re looking for? There are countless inspiring websites offering a selection of handmade items created by people whose lives can be improved with every holiday gift you buy. Find adorable children’s toys – hand-knit by women in the Peruvian highlands – at Global Goods Partners, choose from a range of Afghan jackets at Far + Wide Collective, or pick up some stylish recycled copper Moscow Mule mugs, handcrafted in Mexico, at Shopping for a Change. [Left to Right: Global Goods Partners, Far + Wide Collective, Shopping for a Change]
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Special Slow Celebrations
15 Gifts From The Heart: Wonderful Presents With A Social Conscience.
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