Global Girlfriend is a fair trade brand founded in 2003 with the mission to help women worldwide gain economic security. The brand offers a line of trend-setting, women-made, fair trade products including stylish apparel, accessories, and gifts. The primary goal is to provide women in need with a sustainable income and economic opportunities.
The brand believes that economic opportunity for women holds the promise for real change in the world. When women have an income, they reinvest in themselves and their children’s health, education, and nutrition, building stronger families and communities over time. Many women try desperately to make a living selling their artisan-quality goods but find that they have little access to market opportunities. Through fair trade practices, Global Girlfriend brings the work of these disadvantaged groups directly to consumers.
Global Girlfriend forms long-term partnerships that provide women with a fair living wage, equal employment opportunities, healthy and safe working conditions, technical assistance, and development strategies to foster prosperity and reduce poverty. The brand works with over 100 women’s artisan organizations in over 30 countries, sourcing beautiful handmade products that make a life-changing difference for the women who make them.
The products are mid-market, value-priced, and sold on the online store, on sister sites at GreaterGood.com, and in over 1,000 wholesale partner stores across the US. The primary social impact is providing fair trade employment by purchasing from women artisans globally. Additionally, Global Girlfriend believes passionately that education for girls, coupled with economic opportunities for women, are the keys to ending poverty for women worldwide.
The brand has partnered with GROW (Girls’ Right to Opportunity Worldwide), a signature program of GreaterGood.org, to donate a portion of every purchase made by retail and wholesale customers to send girls to school and provide them with school uniforms, a known barrier to girls’ education in developing countries. GROW’s mission is to help girls, especially adolescent girls, remove the barriers to education. Research has shown a direct relationship between increased levels of education and increased levels of health, empowerment, and prosperity.
Global Girlfriend's line is comprised primarily of women's accessories, apparel, bath & body products, and gifts. By shopping the Global Girlfriend collection, consumers are making a difference in women’s lives across the globe. The brand is focused on striving for gender equality and empowerment, closing the global gender opportunity gap, and emphasizing the importance of women providing for themselves and their families.