ONE PURPOSE: Ten Thousand Villages

BY JESSICA JOHNSON-PETTY Asst. A&E Editor

Traveling across the waters one would bring home great handcrafted ndings. Shopping at a normal “thrifty” restoring store, you may buy an item that was found and mass reproduced for the bene t of the corporation. Hidden behind the craziness of the cliché of the vintage buying stream, Ten ousand Villages stands for the artisans who work hard to improve their lives and those of their o spring. is is the brand that takes pride in being a non-pro t company. Edna Ruth Byler did not imagine her trip to Puerto Rico would become the beginning of a chain of stores with a purpose and founding a movement that forever bene ts lives forever. e store in the Court of King of Prussia Mall is one of 73 in a chain of stores in the United States. is grassroots company cares about the ethically treatment behind every product produced. From the hands that labored it to the materials used to construct it, each detail is handled delicately.

Each buyer receives a 50 percent payment upfront, meaning before the product is produced the artisan is paid directly. e paint and dye used is plant-based. Many products in the store are from completely recycled materials. e o cial Ten ousand Villages stated on its website that the capital allows artisan groups to purchase equipment and raw materials without going into debt by taking out loans with high interest rates.

Liz VanArtsdalen, store manager of Ten ousand Villages, takes pride in the com- pany’s way of reasoning. “If you leave out one element you lose the entire idea,” VanArtsdalen is said. “We all as a group defend the Fair Trade method.”

One can nd things for their homes, to spice up their out ts, or to make a loved one smile.

Here, as many other Ten ousand Villages, you can nd beautiful handcrafted elements at a reasonable price. e hands that create these unique works of art work with the company closely.

In terms of fair trade, the site gives its thoughts on fair price and establishing longterm relationships.

With only three outside vendors, the company knows all the individual buyers personally. Unlike in a larger corporation, if a buyer has to halt production for a death in the family because of a cultural barrier, each case is respected. e buyer does not lose the project.

VanArtsdalen explained how the company just encountered an issue exactly like this: a buyer lost a family member. Instead of discounting the project the company had compassion and respected the culture’s grieving period.

Ten ousand Villages makes a di erence in not only individual lives but also the world. By decreasing carbon footprints, each item is unique by having its own ngerprint, for it is not made by machine but by man.