Tote Bags for Good With Work+Shelter

Barrel Maker prints hundreds of thousands of tote bags each year, so we’re very familiar with your run-of-the-mill tote bag manufacturing companies. However, we were recently presented with an opportunity to source from a very special company, Work+Shelter.

Work+Shelter focuses on women’s empowerment and poverty alleviation, and provides women in India with not only fair-trade work, but a safe place to live for themselves, and their dependents. The pilot location started in New Delhi, where women are entered into a paid training program to learn the skills necessary to create high-quality products for the export market – the only prerequisite is a demonstrated economic need.

Then, when the woman completes training, her pay is increased, and she continues to be paid whether or not the products sell. Work+Shelter also regularly meets with their employees to ensure their other key needs are met. For example, they also assist stakeholders with finding medical support, and do their best to ensure the children in their employees family are in school.

If you’d like to be a part of this apparel revolution, be sure to stay in touch with us over the next few months to order these specialty bags. And also, keep in mind, Work+Shelter is not a charity. It is a company which holds their employees up to high-standards in order to produce quality products for an international market. In other words, your bags will always be great, and the way they were made is great for others too.

We’ll keep you up to date about this partnership, but in the meantime, learn more about Work+Shelter here.