krochet kids

I first heard about Krochet Kids in college-- one of the guys that lived with my husband (he lived with 50 other guys) was starting a business with his brother. All I knew, remotely, was that they were teaching African women to crochet hats and sell them. At the time, I liked the idea, but didn't think anything of it.


Fast forward to this past Saturday when I went to a fundraising event at Two Beers Brewery in support of Krochet Kids International. The hat-making company is now a non-profit with their products sold at REI and Nordstrom. They employ 150 women in Uganda and recently expanded to Peru.


A quick background on their organization-- not only does Krochet Kids give the most vulnerable women in these communities jobs, but they pair them with mentors, they offer them classes in education, business, and finance. They have access to the Krochet Kids credit union and when they finish the program (sometime between 3 to 5 years), they are set up to be financially independent.

What's incredible is that Krochet Kids funds 80 percent of their programs with the sales they make. They started with hats but now they've expanded to incredible bags, tees and the sweatshirt I'm wearing in this post.

I really didn't plan on buying anything but after seeing the sweatshirt and and then hearing the story of the women who make it... I was sold. Now that I own it, I don't know that I'll be taking it off. It's incredibly soft and pretty dang cute, if I do say so myself.

Also, speaking of things I wear on repeat-- I bought these coated jeans at the Nordstrom anniversary sale, and again, they're something I hate to wash-- only because it means that I won't get to wear them for a bit.

wear:
sweatshirt: Krochet Kids International
jeans: Joe's Jeans via Nordstrom (check out similar ones at Old Navy, too)
boots: ebay

xo, erika