Leaving Your Signature

This is sooo cool. Check out these new t-shirts and key chains from Freeset Global.  They are free trade products made by women survivors of the sex trade--and imprinted with their signatures.

I love this idea. Freeset has found a way to connect to the individual, in an issue that so often is deadened by statistics.  You can match each woman's signature on the website and click to read a little glimpse about them. For example, Sanda's nickname is "Mosquito" and she has recently learned to write her name--a mark she will now leave on each of the products she makes.

As an introductory special Freeset is offering free shipping. According to the website:

"Purchasing a Freeset Tee enables women to rise out of poverty and the sex trade. Many women are coerced, blackmailed or forced into India's sex trade by pimps and poverty. Shunned by society with no education or job training, it is nearly impossible for these women to free themselves from prostitution. Freeset offers women the chance to work instead of selling their bodies, and helps to restore their place in society by teaching them both vocational and life skills like budgeting and nutrition. They grow in self-confidence and receive a steady income so their freedom is sustainable. 

Purchasing a Freeset Tee helps to decrease demand for cotton produced using dangerous pesticides, child labor and irresponsible land management. Instead, purchasing a freeset tee supports sustainable farming practices that include fair wages paid to field workers, employment of natural pest management, and no child labor."  

I'm going shopping, and this is one time I would be thrilled to be wearing the same thing as every single other person in the room.