Make your Black Friday Child Labor and Slavery Free

You've filled your plates and stuffed you faces with the barrage of Turkey Day delights and now belly full your mind begins to drift to Christmas Shopping and the Black Friday deals. So sure prepare yourself for a deal, but why not shop in the true holiday spirit and give back as you give to your loved ones this year and shop slave free!

 Global March Against Child Labor estimates that one in every eight children from 5 to 17 years old, some 179 million, work in the worst forms of child labor. The International Labor Organization (ILO) estimates that some 80 million plus children under 14 years old work in conditions deemed hazardous to their health. 

Slavery taints consumer products such as clothing, jewelry, cosmetics, electronics, sports equipment, rugs, agricultural produce, sugar, tea, coffee, chocolate, and many other products. Often products, like clothing, may even be tainted at multiple points in the supply chain. For example children may have been used to pick the cotton of a shirt, while workers were held in situations of slavery and forced to sew the clothing. Slavery touches each one of us as a consumer, therefore as don’t waste anymore time you can begin to take a stand against child labor and work toward being a more conscious consumer and keeping slavery tainted products out of your home, today in just a few easy steps.

1. Donate to local organizations that help empower people out of poverty & slavery 
2. Educate yourself about the companies that use slavery in the making of their products 
3. Don’t buy commercial sex 
4. Become a more conscious consumer and buy products made by survivors of trafficking or Fair Trade products -such as the items BTFF sales from Better Way Imports. 
5.  Make your own gifts or support local artisans, you can also search online for handmade items; Artfire.com has artists from around the globe selling their crafts and art supplies, Etsy features handmade and vintage items, Ebay has a number of used, one of a kind and vintage items and even has a specifically designated ribon to show items for sale that benifit charities like BTFF and you can even choose us and donate at checkout.
6. Remember to recycle and reuse as much as possible, for not onlu y does it help us reduce waste and maintain fight global warming, you can also help reduce the consumption of slavery tainted goods.
7. Shop your local vintage and charity shops. See How to Go Green: Gift Giving