Producer Profiles

HeartSilks is proud to support many wonderful organizations throughout the world, including: 

• Fair Fashion, Cambodia – Fair Fashion Cambodia enables victims of sex trafficking or other forms of sexual exploitation to attain self-sufficiency by providing its residents with the opportunity to find employment or run their own businesses.  Fair Fashion’s fair trade garment workshop supports the empowerment and reintegration of trafficking victims.  Other vocational training includes cooking and housekeeping, hairdressing, small business management, agriculture, weaving, handicrafts and social work, with the potential to be employed by Fair Fashion.  Somaly Mam, the founder of the organization, was a victim of sex trafficking for more than a decade and, since her escape, has dedicated her life to helping other victims of sexual exploitation.

• Tanorn Group, Cambodia – has approximately 20 rural weavers, primarily women, who are also small subsistence farmers.  Silk weaving provides them additional income, which improves their standard of living and enables them to send their children to school rather than keeping them at home to assist with farm work.  Design and quality training is provided to the weavers, as well as basic vocational training and marketing support.  The Tanorn project has been replicated in other rural Cambodian villages, and these projects now support approximately 100 families that would otherwise be living in dire poverty.

• Sre Po Group, Cambodia – The organization focuses on developing life skills that assist in breaking the cycle of poverty and illiteracy for vulnerable people, especially women, many of whom are victims of human trafficking.  Their programs empower and support the women by providing knowledge and skills that have a long-term benefit, including vocational training — especially silk weaving, education programs in health and literacy, employment opportunities that pay a livable wage, ongoing training and support for the development of professional competence and ethical practices, and other sustainable programs that improve lives, increase skills and benefit the community. 

• Mai Savanh Lao, Laos – Mai Savanh Lao grew out of an aid project aimed at generating sustainable income for underprivileged families in remote areas of Laos.  The families receive educational courses and vocational training.  Weavers work from home, giving them a high degree of flexibility, and enabling Mai Savanh Lao to product both small and large orders.  Mai Savanh Lao has implemented modern throwing and warping techniques in order to supply superior raw material to their producers.  Over 200 weavers have now been trained to use these improved hand-powered shuttle looms.