WE'VE MOVED!

You can follow our new blog at blog.redearthtradingco.com!

The Exchange Begins Now!

Today is the first day of training for The Exchange, our first national tour. I can't help but be more than just a little excited!

When I started working with Red Earth Trading Co. earlier this year, my goal was to help develop this tour. Watching it come to fruition has been amazing. Working with some of the most dedicated and driven people has been awe-inspiring. I can't help but think of the This Is Love banquet and the amount of work it took to made it happen. I am proud to be a part of the Global Support Mission team and to know that our efforts make a difference. 

There is still time to book a house party on The Exchange tour. For more info, email us at info@redearthtradingco.com!

- Edwin

Team RETCo.

Kenya Wrap Up

Brady and I just got back into Nashville yesterday.  We had a great trip, but we're excited to be back and working hard on getting all this new product up for sale!  Here's a few more pics from our trip.

One of the young guys who works for Raymond.  He's working on our Brass Link Necklace.

Jack and I cheesing it up after he dropped off our order.  Such a great guy!  He looks so different without his glasses.

Gabriel with the African Finger Knife Pendant that he makes for us.

Tom showing off the new leather handbag that we designed.  Looks even better once it's stained!  They will be online very soon!

Going over the new order with JaneRose.  

JaneRose adjusting a few necklaces.  She's so good at what she does... and she knows it!

We ordered 460 of these Eastern Antiquity Necklaces, so get one today!

Lunch with the Blue Sky team in Nairobi... awesome people, doing great things in Kenya!

Travis

Team RETCo.

Belts!

We're working hard to expand our Men's collection.  One of the newest products on the way are belts!  The buckles are hand-cast recycled brass and the belts are full grain leather.  They're so sweet!  They'll soon be for sale on the ExChange Tour and online.

The buckles are made from scrap brass like this.  They also melt down old pad locks, sink faucets and anything else brass that's been thrown out.

It's all melted down in this furnace and then they pour the liquid brass into a mold.

The buckles come out of the mold looking like this and then they're filed and buffed.

This is the final product.  The belts are hand cut from dyed cow hide.

Travis

Team RETCo. 

Around the Workshop

This is Raymond.  He is one of our all-time favorite artisans.  You can't walk around his workshop without leaving inspired.  Here are a few photos from around his shop.

Travis
Team RETCo.

Back in Action - Nairobi, Kenya!

James, our fixer.  He came out from Mombasa for the week to give us a hand.  

Going over some new designs with Raymond... they're going to be amazing!

New design specs.  Created by our designers Evan Barbee and Katy McDonald.

Mutua Mwema (L) and Tom (R) with a raw cow hide.  They are our leather experts.

Rough designs for a new leather handbag.  I love creating new products!

Mutua Mwema working on a prototype of the new handbag.  We'll tweak it, then production starts!

Our good friend Jack!  He makes all our multi-line necklaces.  Gotta love that shirt! 

Travis

Team RETCo.

A Walk Through The Forest.

Introducing the Squaw Necklace. Available only at Red Earth Trading Co!





The Squaw Necklace is made by Jack Okumu at Ndou Creations in Kenya. See all of Jack's work here.


-Team RETCo.

Meet Karen McGee

Hey all!

I'm Karen and I'm thrilled to be working on the Global Support Mission team as the international volunteer coordinator and office manager! I do a little bit of everything, from overseeing all the behind-the-scenes action, to organizing the Red Earth Trading Co. inventory, to being inspired daily by my colleagues.

My road to Global Support Mission began in 2009 when I took my first trip to Africa. In working with a local teacher in a tiny Tanzanian coastal town, I was moved by the vast need and compassion of the people with whom I worked and returned knowing my calling was vastly different from the road I'd been walking for the first two decades of my life. There's no arguing with God when He's leading you somewhere new - I changed my major, graduated college, and moved back to Africa as quickly as I could.

I spent the first half of 2011 living and working in Namibia, a sparsly populated and intriguing country in southern Africa. While there, I wrangled 250 teenagers in my English classes, climbed the world's largest sand dunes, ate caterpillars every Friday night, hitchhiked everywhere, and learned a lot about what it means to invest my life in international development. 

So how did I get from Namibia to Global Support Mission? I met Travis a year ago after some simple internet searches led me to the organization. I had an inkling from the second I read the mission statement that I might end up being more involved than I could yet imagine. When I returned from Namibia and found myself back in the glorious city of Nashville, TN, Travis was the first person I called.

I deeply believe in the work we are doing and am humbled to have the opportunity to be a part of this movement. There are so many exciting things ahead for Red Earth Trading Co. and the rest of our organization. I love enabling this office to do their work more efficiently every day and love sending people to experience our work first-hand in East Africa.

Also, every time you order something from Red Earth Trading Co., I am the one who packages your product with extra love and speedy shipping. You're welcome.

-Karen

International Volunteer Coordinator, 

Office Manager & Team RETCo.