It was only 6 months ago that I first discovered the wonderful FashionABLE (now ABLE) scarves on a humanitarian trip to Ethiopia, and fell in love with their process--and of course their gorgeous scarves--which are doing a world of good for women and mothers in great need. In fact you all fell in love with them too--Cool Mom Picks readers helped sell out the entire store over the holiday season!
So I'm beyond thrilled to announce a brand new, limited edition scarf from the organization, with a pretty awesome story behind it.
The Genet Scarf is available for preorder starting today with free shipping for just 48 hours, so grab it while you can--they will go fast, trust me!
The scarf itself was named for the young mother who makes it by hand, and was designed by ethical fashion advocate and blogger Janette Crawford for ONE as part of a crowdsourced contest to improve the lives of Genet and more Ethiopian women. That's a whole lot of awesome in that sentence right there.
2024 Update: This scarf is no longer available. Visit ABLE for their current selection including lots of gorgeous leather bags and accessories. CMP is a proud ABLE affiliate.
I'm totally in love with the wearable black and white (I am a New Yorker) and knowing the quality of the scarves first-hand, this will get a lot of use all year round.
But what I love just as much as the scarf, is the wonderful backstory. Genet is a woman who never knew her mother; she was brought to Addis Ababa when she was three, was forced into domestic labor soon after, and was on the street by the time she was 12. After having a baby at 15, she started commercial sex work--one of the very few ways for an uneducated woman in Addis to earn enough money to support her child. It's a common story there, but what's not is her outcome: Now 21, Genet's work at FashionABLE has helped get her back on her feet with decent wages and benefits, paid for much-needed counseling, and provided medical and educational support for her daughter too. Wow.
Genet and her daughter
Hard at work
Now that I've bought several of these scarves, I can tell you each one is not just lovely to wear, it feels imbued with the good spirit and hard work of the incredible women who make each one by hand. I've even given one to my daughter to sleep with at night, to "keep her safe." She knows that to me, it's a symbol of women who will do anything to take care of their children. I think that's something we can all relate to. -Liz Special thanks to our friend Jeannine Harvey, Gabby Blair and all the people of the Altitude Design Summit and ONE Moms who made the contest and production possible.
