Ten Thousand Villages

100% of our artisans are geographically marginalized being from developing countries
Socio-economically

Debt is one of the most common ways that people around the world fall into an inescapable cycle of poverty, bonded labor or even slavery.

By reducing vulnerabilities through offering 0% interest on advances on purchases, Ten Thousand Villages makes it possible for people in developing countries to do their work without predatory loans or going into debt, helping to break the cycle of poverty for people around the world.

As a founding member of the World Fair Trade Organization, Ten Thousand Villages understands deeply the importance of upholding the tenants of Fair Trade.
Ten Thousand Villages works hand-in-hand with our artisan groups to evaluate and establish fair pricing. providing a profit for their organizations. In turn, they can provide clean water, food, shelter, basic medical care and education for their families and communities and work in clean, safe working conditions.

Sustainable and inclusive long term buying relationships create stability, encouraging full and productive employment leading to economic growth.
Safe working conditions promote sustainable industrialization and foster innovation, resulting in fewer workers health issues or work-related deaths.

Creating access to local and global markets through design collaborations with artisans, leads to innovative products that honor time-honored skills in new ways for markets across the globe.

Commodities & Ocean Freight

Each artisan workshop needs a different kind of support, from skills training that advances their work to new technology that improves their material processing.

Ten Thousand Villages designs new products, working with artisan groups to incorporate new materials and techniques into their handmade crafts. Ten Thousand Villages believes that investing in people and organizations so that they grow and improve over time is foundational to supporting their sustainability.

As a pioneer of the fair trade movement, we believe that sustainable incomes can help to end poverty. We work to educate consumers about the true power of their purchases.

Ten Thousand Villages’ customers care about the planet and demonstrate this by their love of handmade items that are made with recycled, upcycled and naturally sustainable materials.
At every step of our supply chain, Ten Thousand Villages considers environment stewardship and sustainability, consolidating 75% of our sea shipments, reducing our carbon footprint.
Recent additional efforts include building water effluent treatment plants in Bangladesh and Nepal for workshops that dye textiles and make handmade paper; rebuilding a pulp cooker to improve energy efficiency by 30% for a paper making in the Philippines; Installing solar lighting and water heating units; refurbishing olive wood carving workshops in the West Bank to improve lighting and training to use vegetable dyes in place of chemical dyes.

Partnering to amplify our impact is an integral part of mission fulfillment for Ten Thousand Villages.
This is especially true, in instances of Emergency & Disaster Relief, when getting aid to distressed communities is critically important and time sensitive. Working with Field Partners like Mennonite Central Committee and Catholic Relief Services, allows us to send help when and where it’s needed most.