[Canmore AB 09-17-08] On Sunday August 24th I landed in Las Vegas, Nevada. The city is surrounded by desolate mountains and in the middle of these mountains is a city full of lights, money and lots of noise. When I first walked the strip my senses were overwhelmed and a headache was trying to lock in on my brain. I had to remind myself that being in the middle of this craziness was for more than the experience of being in Vegas it was about development and discovery.

The development of relationships with owners of small businesses that we had already established a formal business to business connection through ordering product. And also the hope of discovering more quality companies out there who lined up with the encounter earth values of economic and environmental sustainability for our third world partners, workers and artisans.

On the development front we met with three principles of three companies that we do business with. On Monday morning we met Shannon and wow, it did not take long for Bernie and I to look at each other and smile. She is for real… she lives in Thailand 5 months of the year and works alongside the people. She talked about projects that they are involved in that deal with education and health. She talked about living wages for her workers and participating at their parties where they karaoke late into the night.

Next we met with Matt, founder/president of a company that has over 250 collectives of 6 to 60 women in South and Central America. Matt and Scotty, co-founders, hiked the Andes in the late 90’s to find women in small villages who were willing to sew. They took 7 years to just find and develop these collectives. They have been living the justice thing in business for over 13 years. Matt sat with Bernie and I and was so encouraging about his take on encounter earth. Another meeting, another confirmation that we are partnering with the right people.

Our third meeting took place in the corner of the trade show that was for the more up and coming companies. It was kinda the shantytown section… low budget, small booths and smaller displays. We sat down with Aiden and talked about jeans and India. This young man with a few friends dreamt about fairness and fashion only a few years ago and before they knew it had created an incredible product that is moving like crazy. Yet as we sat with this guy he was as humble as could be. But there was a brilliance as well around viral marketing and so many crazy ideas in how to make a difference. Wow, again, another confirmation!

We came out of the three meetings flying, just saying ‘YES!” We were so impressed by the integrity and passion to bring change in a huge, very intimidating industry. We then spent the rest of Monday and Tuesday walking through various parts of the trade show trying to find other companies that would carry the same dna as the ones we already visited. At this show there was a newly formed section called ECOllection and as you guessed it this section is all about environment and sustainability in fashion. We thought out of the 80 exhibitors we would find at least 1 or 2 other companies that we could work with.

We had lots of conversations but the theme that came out over and over again was that we care about the environment so this detail and that detail was given about the process regarding making the garment. When we would ask about the workers and fair or living wages the person would rattle off SA8000 or FLA which means they never met a third world worker in the factories where the clothes are made but apparently the factory complies to a basic standard set out in these agreements. Then we would share about our desire to see the workers paid a living wage and that the basics of food, shelter, health and education need to be addressed we would either be given blank stares or just a repeat of SA8000/FLA or greater detail about the quality of their eco-friendly product. Now I will write an aside: there were a few local American-made product companies that were at this ECOllection show as well. Most of them know their workers and pay them fair wages. Encounter Earth’s main priority is to partner with companies that employ third world workers.

So, as Bernie and I prepared to leave Vegas on Tuesday afternoon after being just a bit overwhelmed by an industry that in America alone is worth hundreds of billions annually, we felt a little intimidated, a tiny bit disappointed, but very encouraged in that we saw rays of hope through our new friends, Shannon, Matt, and Aiden. We had this sense of confirmation that even though we are so-o-o tiny a market offering we are on the right track and it made complete sense that we could only find less than 1%, more likely .01% at the trade show that we could connect with. We are so thankful to find the few and hope that in the coming years many more in the fashion industry will step onto the path of awareness and social justice as a fundamental way of doing business.