Sep 18, 2019
Wen King is the founder of the Fair Trade brand, Rover + Kin. I first met Wen at the Fair Trade Federation Conference after stumbling upon her table at the expo. Her gorgeous fair trade clothing literally stopped me in my tracks. Wen has combined her incredible eye for design with a passion for supporting artisans and their stories. Join me as I hear from Wen about living in Northern India, building a Fair Trade small business from the ground up, and taking her business one step further to explore education, health care, microfinance, and more.
Wen is the founder of Rover & Kin, a fair trade fashion brand that incorporates modern design with traditional artisan techniques. Wen was born in Taiwan and raised in Minnesota. But curiosity of the world got the better of her so she spent most of her 20s backpacking around the world. Wen eventually settled in northern India where she lived and ran her first business for nearly a decade. During her time in India, she fell in love with the craftsmanship of artisan made and witnessed first hand the impact of fair trade. Since then, she has been a proactive advocate for fair trade as one of the most effective methods of sustainable development. Wen is currently based in the San Francisco Bay Area and is also the co-owner of Koraa, a fair trade brick and mortar based in Berkeley, California.
12:53 “I was always very attracted to the idea of fair trade because it’s not a charity, it’s not a handout. It’s a sustainable business model that works for both sides.”
13:00 – “It was always really important to me that it wasn’t a handout. The artisans are proud of what they do, and they grow alongside us. It’s a mutually beneficial business partnership.”
15:06 – “You can see how through these resources and all these benefits of fair trade, that families are actually able to get out of the cycle of poverty and do incredible things with their lives.”