Hamilton T-shirt maker has unique partnership in Haiti on Astini News
Davidow's company sells high-end decorative T-shirts for kids. They come in 65 styles, sold online (thegreeneggshop.com) and in 150 shops, with the felt appliques made of recycled materials (post-consumer plastic) and the T-shirts of made-in-the-USA cotton. They sold 10,000 shirts last year, their first attending trade shows, and expect to double that this year.
What makes the company noteworthy, though, is where the shirts go when they leave Davidow's living room.
On this day, Davidow, Clauson, and intern Sophia Healey of Winchester are in the process of packing a shipment of 6,400 T-shirts bound for Haiti. There, they will be taken to a village where approximately 100 women - skilled embroiderers - will apply the "fancy stitch'' that completes the design.
The shirts will then return to the states and be shipped to retailers.
The Green Egg is the first contract partner of the Haiti Projects, a fair-trade, nonprofit sewing and knitting cooperative located in Fond des Blancs, Haiti. Situated in a poor mountainous area 75 miles southwest of Port au Prince, it was founded in 1995 and has US offices in Beverly, with the goal of empowering women in Haiti to lift themselves out of poverty, become self-sufficient, and strengthen their community. "It feels good to me that these little shirts can actually make a difference in their lives,'' said Davidow, who runs the company with her husband, Steve. "It's got a very powerful meaning for me. It's amazing that these little shirts can do so much for somebody.''
The process of dealing with Haitian shipping can be time-consuming and expensive, she said, and to meet the demands of large retailers, she and Steve sometimes sacrifice their own sleep to stay on schedule. But the wages to the women - which equate to significantly more than the minimum wage for Haiti - go a long way.
"It's a commitment to the women of Fond des Blancs,'' said Chantal Healey, director of US operations for the Haiti Projects, which is the second largest employer in the village. "It's a lot of work for the Green Egg to do this.''
