Ethical Fashion Guatemala (EFG) developed Express Shipping Services for the 600,000 Mayan Artisan families living around Lake Atitlan Guatemala. They ship locally designed and created products directly to customers in Australia, Europe, Canada, and the U.S. “Guatemalan Artisans have access to global markets,” states James Dillon, the technical advisor for Ethical Fashion Guatemala.

Ethical Fashion Guatemala Provides Guatemalan Artisans with Access to Global Markets.

In a 2017 article in Fashionista, https://fashionista.com/2017/08/guatemalan-artists-etsy-copyright-infringement, Ethical Fashion Guatemala detailed its plans to provide Guatemalan Artisan copyright protection services. Guatemalan Artisans had been unable to meet the challenge of a growing number of Entrepreneurs with U.S. based e-commerce sites who were selling Guatemalan artisan-produced products, keeping most of the profits without giving credit to Artisans.

Providing cost effective shipping rates has changed the Economics for Guatemalan Artisans.

Delfina Par is the daughter of the founder of one of the oldest weaving co-operatives in the village of San Juan LaLaguna, on Lake Atitlan. “Today, our family-owned Co-Operative ships $1,500 a week, on average, in new product sales, delivered worldwide through the shipping services provided by Ethical Fashion Guatemala.”

Silvia Anthea Pannella is an Italian lawyer with a Master’s degree in Intellectual Property Law and a research thesis on the protection of indigenous communities’ textiles. “EFG combines the needs of the represented cooperatives with the benefits of technology, without surpassing the freedom of choice of artisans. Teaching, commerce and protection are just some of their services, with the common aspect of being carried forward under the key world “respect.”

In 2018, Ethical Fashion Guatemala will add five additional regions for Shipping of Guatemalan Artisan Products to its network, including the large communities of Chichicastenango, Quetzaltenango (Xela), and Antigua.