If you’re like us, you sometimes have second thoughts as you buy that fashionable sweater or handbag. The label tells you
where it was made. But do you know who made it? Do you know what their working conditions are like? The answer in most
cases is no. But with Gecko Traders, you know that when you buy our fashion handbags and accessories, you make someone
else’s life better.
Gecko Traders’ 100 percent silk handbags and accessories and our recycled Eco Weekender line sell in stores across the
nation. But they are more than beautiful and fun fashion accessories. Each product sold provides a sustainable living to
Cambodian weavers and producers, many of whom are female heads of households, disabled due to polio or landmine injury,
or young women pulled from brothels and taught a trade
Our president, Kimberley Person, founded Gecko Traders as a fair trade [link] company in 1999 after traveling in some of the
more remote areas of Southeast Asia. Her mission: dependable employment for the disabled and disadvantaged. Her method:
bringing fair trade into the fashion world.
Since then, Gecko Traders has grown from an idea to a basement operation to a full-fledged national fashion wholesaler. And
Kimberley has seen the difference our work has made in our weavers’ and producers’ lives. On one visit to Cambodia, she
might see someone who has been able to expand a tiny shack to make room for her family. On another, she meets a mother
whose work has allowed her child to go to school.
Let’s face it – a fashionable handbag or funky tote isn’t a necessity; it’s a luxury. Isn’t it wonderful to know that when you buy
from Gecko, your luxury item is helping people across the world improve their lives.
