Our Commitment
Your purchase of a fashionABLE scarf creates sustainable business for women in Africa. Our commitment as a non-profit is to the development of people — fashionABLE works with women who have been exploited due to the effects of poverty. So, when you purchase a scarf you are providing jobs, and then we send the net profits back to holistically rehabilitate more women. This is the beauty of non-profit….
Scarves provide jobs, profits provide restoration.
Business Model
You are ABLE to provide opportunities, and these women are ABLE to have a new choice.
We are a non-profit. That means that your purchase of a scarf does far more than just create jobs. The fashionABLE mission is to create sustainable business in Africa so that the women are not dependent upon charity, but instead are a vital part of a developing economy.
Our First Partner
In Ethiopia, prostitution is often linked with deep levels of generational poverty and financial hopelessness. Lacking meaningful resources and a sense of hope, many women resort to prostitution as a means of supporting themselves and their families. These women are often desperate to leave the sex industry but remain trapped by a lack of opportunity and rehabilitative support.
“Women At Risk” is an organization we have partnered with to rehabilitate former sex workers. This work requires not only getting these women off the streets, but also providing them counseling and helping them find alternate means of income – this is why we created fashionABLE. Our ultimate goal is to help these women become healthy and productive members of society.
Headquarters for scarf production are in Addis Ababa, the capital city. Scarves are made by women in the program, as well as other Ethiopian sources that include women and men, to help meet demand. While being supported by those sources, fashionABLE is continually funding the training of more women in order to employ as many women as demand will allow. All the while, we are meeting the mission that your purchase of a fashionABLE scarf continues to create sustainable business for more women in Africa.
How We Began
Barrett Ward founded Mocha Club in 2005 – a new generation of activists giving up the cost of two mochas, or $7 a month, to fund relief and development projects in Africa [themochaclub.org]. A few years later, Barrett moved to Ethiopia for a year. While there, he ran across Women at Risk, a group that works with women exploited in the sex industry. After seeing their effectiveness and the dignity restored in these women, he learned that one of the biggest challenges to keeping these women off the streets is gainful employment. For this purpose, fashionABLE was conceived.
Barrett resides in Nashville, TN with his wife, and 2 beautiful Ethiopian daughters.
Our Commitment
Not only do we want you to feel good about your purchase, but we want you to look good too. And that means your scarf is a quality product that you love wearing. At fashionABLE, we are committed to excellent products. If for any reason you don’t love your scarf, contact us and we’ll make it right. 100% Satisfied – we’re not ‘til you are.
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