The "Boys"

Mingus is the big one, and Fellini, the small one. They are such silly boys. If you've been on the Three Stone Steps site, looking at the Fellini Pannolini Large Messenger Bag of repurposed materials, or the Mingus Cross Body Bag, in either post-consumer waste recycled black trash bag or repurposed mosquito netting, you now know the origins of the names.

Honestly, I never planned to name bags for the dogs that hang here at Three Stone Steps, but, hey, I was naming something with the Italian word for diaper, "pannolini," and Fellini fit just so well, that I just couldn't resist. And, fair is fair. You can't name one bag after one of the "boys" and have the other one feeling all left out.

Sisters are Doing it for Ourselves

I spent a very inspiring Friday morning in ournationscapital at a roundtable discussion at the National Museum of Women in the Arts as part of their International Women's Artisans Initiative. The group of almost all women --with one man--were all passionate about improving women's lives in the developing world though working with artisans.

And, what an interesting group it was: There were women who worked with artisans in India, Bolivia, South Africa, and Madagascar, to name but a few. There were representatives from big organizations, like the Department of Labor Women's Bureau and departments within the World Bank, the executive director of the Fair Trade Federation, and small importers like me.


I learned a new phrase that I'll now use often, I'm sure: pity purchases or what I call the buy this bag or I'll kill this puppy school of selling. I know that I could sell many more bags if I told you that many are made by polio and landmine victims, and artisans with HIV. But, a bag is about its function and its design. The fact that it helps a worker in a developing part of the world is value added. I've often joked that I would be rich, rich I tell you, if I told some story that buying one of our bags helped a teenage amputee mother with AIDS in a country that recently had a genocide escape from sexual slavery, but that's not what I think it's about. I respect the customer and the producers far too much to engage in selling based on emotional blackmail.

I also learned that 70 percent of workers in the fair trade sector are women. So, the thought that you either think of women's issues or you think of general fair trade issues isn't much of a point, since they are almost one in the same.

As the chief executive of everything here at the worldwide headquarters of Three Stone Steps, I don't get a lot of chances to sit back, and actually assess just where a little fair trade import company like mine fits within the great big world of social justice. Yes, I do get to think about this on those long flights to S.E. Asia---but, in my day to day work, it's actually a wonderfully compelling luxury.

My morning at the National Museum of Women in the Arts presented just this sort of intellectually stimulating mini-holiday, and that alone should keep me inspired for days and weeks to come.

Three Stone Steps at Great Green Goods

The deservingly popular--if I do say so myself!--Fellini Pannolini Bag was recently featured on Great Green Goods, a fantastic site that manages to unearth some fantastic products. You can read the review of this great big eco-chic and fairly made bag that can be used as a diaper bag, or laptop bag, or knitting bag, or gym bag, or bicycle bag, or going off to work for the day bag, or overnight bag, or for any other uses you can think of bag right here:

Bags Created From Recycled Mosquito Netting

A nice big bag ..15.5” x 15” x 4.5. with a bunch of pockets inside for your “stuff”. This laptop bag is made from repurposed outdoor mosquito netting, as well as post-consumer waste recycled trash bags, with lining of repurposed industial waterproof tarp by a group in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. This baby will last forever!
$75.00 at Three Stone Steps
Available in five colors.

Going for Change

Here at Three Stone Steps' worldwide headquarters in Baltimore, Maryland, USA, we are delighted to be featured on the local site, Go for Change, who's mission is: present[ing] a view of sustainability in the Baltimore - Washington area that is both broad and focused. It is a place for people to find and share regional resources for positive change.

If you're in the area, or just concerned about how an wonderful, but older industrial city with its share of challenges strives to deal with them in a sustainable way, or just want to browse an attractive, well done site, with its values in the right place, I don't think you could do much better than surfing over to Go for Change.

And, without further ado, here's the post on yours truly:

Three Stone Steps

7.14.08 | 0 Comments

by alyssa

photo courtesy of: Three Stone Steps

Three Stone Steps offers fairly traded accessory items like laptop bags, scarves and necklaces handcrafted in small workshops or from peoples homes. Although selling imports may not seem very eco-friendly chief executive, Ellen Reich is committed to minimizing each trip when possible and using recycled materials in the work place. Reich doesn’t just look to ‘fair trade’ and being "green" as devices for clever marketing. Having worked in the U.S. labor movement for 15 years, and holding a masters degree in Labor Studies from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, she is keenly aware of the issues involved with justice in the workplace.

Read their press release……

For immediate release

July 7, 2008, Baltimore, Maryland: Baltimore-based importer, Three Stone Steps, is pleased to announce its new partnership with a producer group in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

This partnership represents globalization at its best: Three Stone Steps has brought U.S. style and sensibilities to the Cambodian workshop’s Italian designers, to be made by Cambodian master tailors.

Functional, durable, funky, and sustainable, these bags are made from repurposed mosquito netting, and lined with repurposed waterproof industrial tarp. One style is made from post-consumer waste black plastic garbage bags, which have been collected by mothers in Cambodia struggling to make a modest living, and then washed and dried in the sun. They are then bought at market value, and woven into a unique cross-body bag.

These bags are offered online at www.threestonesteps.com as well as at select boutiques here in Baltimore, and from Alaska to Washington, both the state and the District, a bit further afield.

Ellen Reich, owner of Three Stone Steps, states: "People see these bags and really like them. Then they learn that they are both sustainable and fairly made, and they love them. It’s important to me that the appeal of these bags is on their design, and not, initially, on how and by whom they are produced. The only way that we’ll move, as a society, into being more conscientious about what we are consuming is to sell things that people actually adore and want to use."

About Three Stone Steps:

Ellen Reich, founder of Three Stone Steps, began the business in late 2006 as a way to share the great products she found while traveling with a larger audience. As a former labor union activist who holds a masters degree in Labor Studies, she felt strongly that all items should be made under standards that adhere or surpass fair trade standards. Ellen is also strongly committed to environmental issues. She was certain that there was a way to combine great products, and a green sensibility with a commitment to fair trade. She did, and Three Stone Steps was born.

The name "three stone steps" comes from Chinese lore, where three stone steps at the foot of wooden staircase promises solid footing for a good journey.

Three Stone Steps in the Baltimore Examiner & The Scarf

Ok, while anorexic fashion models aren't quite Three Stone Steps' thing (ok, Venus, our tall, thin mannequin model is an exception), I was delighted with this little write up in the Baltimore Examiner's online edition last week.

And, delighted, too, that scarves were the featured fashion accessory. Really, I have seen fashionistas here and there, even in the heat and humidity of the Baltimore summer, wearing scarves. And, I must admit, that Three Stone Steps just received some great new hand loomed 100 percent Cambodian silk scarves. As with everything else, I'm still busy getting them up on the site, but honestly, these scarves are so beautiful and luminous and just so tactile that it helps to see them in person.

I'll have the colors on photos updated on the site by next week, but if you're in need of a scarf right this minute, please contact us.


http://www.examiner.com/x-403-Baltimore-Fashion-Examiner~y2008m7d2-It-Takes-Just-3-Stone-Steps-to-Look-Effortlessly-Chic



It Takes Just 3 Stone Steps to Look Effortlessly Chic!

POSTED July 2, 10:31 AM

One trend I really, really love right now is accessorizing an outfit with a colorful, thick scarf. It’s perfect for all ages (my grandmother got me hooked on to the trend almost ten years ago) and all climates. You can wear this trend in July, but make sure its after 7 p.m., because you’ll roast to death during the daytime.

One Baltimore-based company that sells this trendy look, along with other accessories, is Three Stone Steps. They have a selection for men and women, and best of all, their products represent globalization and going green at its finest. The name "three stone steps" comes from Chinese lore, where three stone steps at the foot of wooden staircase promises solid footing for a good journey.

If you’re not a fan of scarves, their bags are the latest eco-craze here in Charm City. Functional, durable, funky, and sustainable, they’re made from repurposed mosquito netting, and lined with repurposed waterproof industrial tarp. One style is made from post-consumer waste black plastic garbage bags, which have been collected by mothers in Cambodia and then washed and dried in the sun.

Ellen Reich, owner of Three Stone Steps and former labor union activist, states: "It's important to me that the appeal of these bags is on their design, and not, initially, on how and by whom they are produced. The only way that we'll move, as a society, into being more conscientious about what we are consuming is to sell things that people actually adore and want to use." Ellen started the business in late 2006 as a way to share the great products she found while traveling with a larger audience.

Contact Info:

ellen@threestonesteps.com
www.threestonesteps.com
443.927.9239 phone/fax

Even More New Arrivals!

Oh. I have been busy, busy! But, aren't we all? As you've read on a prior post, I have received a brand spanking new collection of sustainable bags from Cambodia, from my new partnership in Phnom Penh. These bags are great!

The Fellini Pannolini is a great, big, workhorse of a bag that you could use for diapers, or going to the gym, or for your laptop, or your knitting, or while riding your bike (and with gas prices what they are, who doesn't want to ride their bike more?), and even overnight. Please check out the Fellini Pannoli bag here. And, I promise to get more photos up of this stupendous bag so that you can see all around this messenger bag, bicycle bag, whatever bag.


The Mingus is in. I'm carrying one, and it's been a good exercise in my trying to be minimal, and not through absolutely everything in what hanging on my shoulder. In addition to mosquito netting, this bag is also in recycled black plastic trash bag....cleaned and smell-free, of course, and woven into a great pattern.

The photo above isn't me!


Finally, the lovely Luna is making lots of fans!



This week, new silks and cottons have come in. While I'll be busy photographing everything, I have great new colors in the cotton messengers bag and cotton travelers bags. The gorgeous silk screen on silk Angkor bag is also now offered in black and gray, in addition to dark purple and red, and finally, the popular for bridesmaids gift jewelry rolls are in such fantastic colors that I am absolutely beside myself.

Here are some new photos of the colors on offer in the great Cambodian-inspired silk screen cotton bags.



With any hope, you can see all these great bags online, or if you're near a store carrying Three Stone Steps' fine products, in person very, very soon.

As for moi, it's back to talking photos.....