UKUSH Handmade for Fair Trade

UKUSH Handmade is a rapidly growing, fair trade company based in Seattle. We import fashion accessories that are produced by Mayan women and men using organic materials and traditional weaving techniques. These contemporary items are then sold wholesale to shops and boutiques throughout the US and Canada.

UKUSH works directly with Guatemalan cooperatives and helps empower women, maintain cultural weaving methods and reduce poverty. We help Mayan people in Guatemala build sustainable businesses. We believe that with fair trade you change the world every day. Socially-marginalized women and men get a better deal -- prompt fair pay, skill building, safe working conditions. Their children can stay in school; they can get medical care; their communities are strengthened.

We are a small company, currently with two employees (one in Seattle, one in Guatemala) plus the owner (me). Our work in Guatemala fully supports the equivalent of 65 families. In addition to importing bags and scarves, we run literacy programs and donate to micro-enterprise programs. We have been around 12 years, but have only recently begun to grow rapidly.