Making a statement
Colorful purses made of discarded candy wrappers from Mexico and $85 metal artwork made from steel drums from Haiti hang on the walls of a small shop at 7 W. Haley St., downtown Santa Barbara.
The shop’s manager, Amesia Doles-Garcia, sweeps the entryway as she opens Arcobaleno Trade, a fair trade store that sells products made in an ecologically and socially responsible manner.
Some tri-county stores, such as Trader Joe’s and Starbucks, sell fair trade products such as coffee and tea, but Doles-Garcia takes her store a step further – just about everything has a fair trade designation.
Eighty percent of her goods, which include art, clothing, jewelry, house wares, coffee, tea and chocolate, have the Fair Trade Federation, or FTF, distinction.
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