Shea Butter: Fair Trade, Unrefined Shea Butter and African Black Soap

Alaffia Fair Trade Grass Baskets are hand-woven in Blitta, Togo by the Alaffia Basket Cooperative. Like members of our Shea Butter Cooperative, our basket weavers are women who are excluded from the formal employment sector. As members of our cooperative, they receive stable, fair incomes and health care for their families in return for their skills and knowledge.

The wild-harvested savanna grass used to weave the baskets requires very little nutrients and water to grow, so is plentiful in even the most degraded soils. By receiving a fair market value for this indigenous resource, families are able to support themselves and empower their communities. In addition, their cultural knowledge and heritage is preserved, adding value to humanity as a whole.

Our hand-woven baskets also benefit your communities.

An estimated 500 billion to a trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide each year, and Americans use one plastic bag per person per day. Our baskets are strong, reusable and biodegradable, and are a sustainable alternative to plastic shopping bags that are filling land-fills. We offer three distinct styles, each with a unique traditional use and look. All three, though, are incredibly versatile and durable.

Alaffia Grass Baskets are Fair Trade Certified by GiFFT International

Fair Trade promotes community empowerment and preserves cultural heritage. It takes an average of four days to weave a complete basket. This does not include the time that it takes to harvest and dry the wild grass. Nor does it include the time to clean, split, dye and twist the grass into strands. These steps involve multiple people and many hours, and are usually not figured into the global market price. These unpaid hours make it difficult for basket weavers to get out of the cycle of poverty.

Paying fair prices for the indigenous resources and knowledge invested in each basket not only gives our cooperative members economic empowerment, but also preserves our artisanal and cultural heritages. Purchasing our baskets helps us reach our goals of economic empowerment, gender equality and preserving indigenous knowledge. We return a minimum of 10% of sales to fund enhancement projects in our communities in Africa. Our Bicycles for Education project, for example, provides used bicycles from our American communities to rural school children in Togo where drop out rates are more than 50%. These bicycles provide transportation, giving students more time to study and encouraging them to stay in school. Read more about our projects at www.alaffia.com.

Purchase Our Handcrafted Grass Baskets