Fabric of Life

The Fabric of Life Boutique is now closed. Thank you friends for your patronage and support all these years.

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Do you still have access to ostrich oil soap?

I’m sorry ,but Fabric of Life closed in February.  

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Fabric of Life has closed its doors

Dear Friends,

When I originally opened Fabric of Life Fair Trade in 2008, the retail store along with generous donors funded a training center in West Africa. Graduates from the Bamako, Mali based two-year skills program, went from begging on the streets to become skilled artisans -- ultimately forming their own artisan cooperative.

With the completion of the Mali project, Fabric of Life will close its fair trade store the end of February. Because of the rising cost of business operations, I've decided to pursue other avenues of funding for future development projects. I will continue my full-time consulting practice for credit unions across the U.S. and with micro-finance cooperative projects in Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe. And I'm looking forward to the next adventure after I take some time off for a long-delayed writing sabbatical.

It has been my pleasure to be a part of the Edmonds and greater global fair trade community. With great affection, I remain...

“the lady on the roof” *

Carol Schillios

* Some of you will recall I lived in a tent on the roof of our shop when itfirst opened. Here's the Seattle Times story .

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What are these little guys? Wooden printing blocks hand-carved in India!

Block printing is a centuries old method for imprinting fabric, paper, and other textiles.  In today’s surface design world, using these blocks either as stamps or as the basis for rubbing produces texture and pattern.  The sculpture quality of wooden printing blocks makes them display ready too.

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What home doesn’t need an elegant chess set ready to play?  These chess sets were carved from soapstone by artisans in Kenya.  Fanciful animals or people march across boards of solid soapstone.

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The Zulu people of South Africa have long been known for their expert basket weaving using plants and grasses, but are perhaps most famous for the telephone wire baskets made today.   These baskets have become so popular, that telephone wire is produced in South Africa just for this purpose!

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Beautiful oil drum art from Haiti has just arrived!  Stamped from old oil drums, this art reuses what would otherwise be trash and helps make Haitian artists financially stable.

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We have a BUGZ infestation!

The Bugz mission is to create long term, sustainable employment that provides financial security, well-being, and hope to the people in Africa by handcrafting beautiful, colorful, delightfully happy products including butterflies and dragonflies to bring joy to others.

They were created to help Zulu tribesmen who have to travel over 1000 miles from their homeland in the Kwa Zulu Natal area to Cape Town to find work so they can support their families.  One worker supports seven to ten family members.

The Bugz team employs more than 25 Zulu, provides clothing, communication devices, bank accounts, and drivers licenses. 

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We have a beautiful selection of Kantha jewelry.  “Kantha” means “patched cloth” and refers to both the tradition of producing quilted blankets from discarded items, as well as the craft and stitch itself (a small, straight running stitch in Bengali embroidery).  

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The perfect gift for someone who has everything: chocolate!  This fair trade chocolate has only the best ingredients and is co-owned by woman cocoa farmers of Ghana. This is a delicious stocking stuffer that you can feel good about purchasing!

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Are you looking for a unique nativity scene?  We have nativities from all around the world!

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Come get warm and cozy with handmade hats, headbands, and gloves from Nepal!

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Perfect stocking stuffers for this holiday!  Prosperity candles come in a variety of scents and support women refugees who poured them by hand. They are made with soy and essential oils-no dyes or enhancers! 

Prosperity Candle is a fair trade enterprise that provides living wage employment to women refugees in Massachusetts and supports artisans around the world. 

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what is the name of the lovely bars of soap you have in your store?

Hi!  We have several different kinds, like shea butter, black soap, mango butter, charcoal soap, and more.  If you’re trying to narrow down a specific soap, you may need to come in and give them the sniff test to find the perfect one!

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A wild selection of felted finger puppets is waiting for you!