Today’s Killer Startup: Issara
Elevator Pitch:
Issara is a direct to consumer leather fashion brand that treats its workers fairly.
Why They’re A Killer Startup:
Yes! Yes, yes, yes! I love this so much! The internet is so often used these days to make rich (or relatively rich, when you consider how poor most of the world is) people’s lives easier. An app to pick up your laundry. An app to bring you food. A f!@#king butler app. While those are all fine and dandy (and I will freely admit to being a lazy, relatively rich person sometimes myself), the internet has the potential to do so much more for the world. That’s why I love Issara.
Isarra is a high-end artisanal leather brand that pays their workers three times the minimum wage in their countries and provides health insurance for them and their families. It’s the anti-sweatshop brand, supporting hardworking artisanal workers in countries where sweatshop labor often looks like a good deal or, at the very least, the only way that people can survive.
The designs for Isarra’s unisex leather goods are made in-house, and they work directly with producers in Central Java and Eastern India, according to TechCrunch. Because those areas are already set up to produce items for major (sweatshop-using) brands, all of the resources for creating their items are already available.
Ugh. This is like, my dream job.
This is the true power of the internet! The ability for a relatively-rich person to connect with a person in an impoverished country to produce luxury goods for the rich person’s country and actually provide a living wage. Oh, and there’s the fact that they’re also helping keep an artisanal craft alive. I’m so all about it.
Tweetable:
Forego the sweatshop produced crap that everyone else has and get yourself some lovely leather @IssaraCo. #slowfashion
