Money Date With The Citizenry
/Every Friday I recommend having a money date…with a mimosa. Hence the name of my blog, Money & Mimosas.
Your money date is your special time to review your finances, celebrate your wins, and reflect on how you used your money to make a difference. Feel free to do it alone or with your money buddy. If you’d like a step-by-step guide for your money date, click here to download your free checklist.
In these money date articles, Money & Mimosas features small to medium-sized businesses that are aligned with our values. This fall, we are focusing solely on eco-friendly beauty and home brands to help you make more conscious choices to help the environment.
This week we are featuring The Citizenry, a home decor brand that supports artisans around the world in their creation of high quality handmade goods.
Founders Rachel Bentley and Carly Nance both met in freshman year of college at Texas A&M. Over the years, it was clear that Carly’s creative personality and Rachel’s business side worked well together both in school and while traveling.
Through their travels, they often found themselves stuffing their suitcases with handcrafted goods to decorate their homes. However, they found it disheartening that many places sold mass-produced versions of these products in traditional retailers. With that, they decided to transform the modern home goods space with The Citizenry.
At first glance, The Citizenry’s website looks like your average online store, but once you start looking around you start to see why they stand out. Unlike traditional retail stores, you are able to see specifically who makes your products, not just where they are made.
According to their website, Carly and Rachel, “set out to build a company that celebrates the people behind our products.” In fact, the reason they decided to call their brand The Citizenry was because they wanted it to reflect the many artisans and designers from across the globe who make the products featured in their collections.
For example, their Oaxaca Rug Collection is handwoven in Oaxaca, Mexico, by a group of 114 fair trade weavers led by sisters Pastora and Violeta pictured above. Pastora actually started the weaving group after her father passed away to provide for her family. Even 20 years later, the weaving group still helps many single mothers and widows to make a living. Through their traditional process, they use all natural dyes and intricate patterns to create their beautiful rugs. Each rug takes about one to three weeks to complete, which shows that they are handcrafted with durability and quality in mind.
Due to the handcrafted creation of their products, they are much more sustainable than mass produced alternatives as well. Most are made with locally sourced materials and in small batches, which prevents excess waste and lowers their carbon footprint. Not to mention it directly supports the creators of the product, unlike alternatives who steal designs and techniques to profit off them themselves.
Using their specific sourcing model, The Citizenry also assures all their artisans are paid fair wages for their work, often 2-3 times more on average than the set fair trade rates. Additionally, they assure the work environment is a happy and safe one, while also investing 10% of profits back into artisan communities. This process allows them to assure the relationships made with artisans are sustainable in addition to the products they craft.
Overall, shopping on The Citizenry is like being able to travel to markets across the world directly from home. From bedding made in Portugal’s oldest linen mill, to traditional hand dyed indigo products from Japan, you are able to find sustainable products to fit your home while also supporting and hearing the stories of the artisans who make them. Since travelling is on pause at the moment, places like The Citizenry can continue to bring many cultures together while apart.
Want to take a virtual shopping trip around the world? Check out The Citizenry’s website.
