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.

Giving of Life Grant!

Global Support Mission is up for a really exciting grant this fall - and we need your help! The Giving of Life grant is available for faith-based organizations that are giving life to people around the world. They are giving away 20 grants ranging from $2,000 to $50,000. Only the top 50 organizations on their website will be eligible to win one of these grants.

This is where you come in: we need your vote to get in the top 50! That means you, your family, friends, coworkers, neighbors, and dog should get online and vote up to five times for Global Support Mission. First, go to Giving of Life and register your email address. Don't worry: Giving of Life will not send any spam to your inbox. Next, go to our page on their website and use your three votes to vote for us. Then, click on "get more votes" at the top of the page and enter in your Twitter handle to get two more votes, which you can use to vote for us again!

If we win one of the Giving of Life grants, it will mean huge things for Global Support Mission and will allow us to continue living out our mission in Kenya and Uganda through Know.Think.Act. and Red Earth Trading Co. We are really eager to win it and are so grateful for your votes!

-Team RETCo.

Zoes Kitchen Fundraiser!

Hey everyone! We are doing a fundraiser for Red Earth Trading Co. this Wednesday, September 28, at Zoes Kitchen in the Hill Center. For every customer who mentions Red Earth Trading Co between 5pm and 9pm, Zoes Kitchen will donate a portion of their profits! 

We'll also have a table with some of our products (Inculding the Copper Cuff and Sweetheart Pendant). So come join us for a night of good food and fun.

See you there! 

Team RETCo.

Zoes Kitchen at The Hill Center

4015 Hillsboro Pike

Nashville, TN 37215

5:00-9:00 PM

Zoes Kitchen phone: 615-627-0800

Wrist Wear With A Little Flare.

Check out our latest video "Copper Cuff: Wrist Wear With A Little Flare." Get yours here!

Raymond, one of our favorite artisans, makes gorgeous cast and hand-hammered copper, brass, bronze, and aluminum jewelry. He works with his wife and employs four others just outside of Nairobi.


Team RETCo.

It's Almost Tour Time!

We started construction on the new displays for The ExChange this week. Building things from scratch is always so fulfilling. Travis and I have been working on the ideas for awhile and I am excited to see what they will look like when they are finished.

I am excited to see what the next few months have in store for us here at Red Earth Trading Co. If you would like to see our new displays up close and personal, email us at info@redearthtradingco.com


Edwin
Team RETCo.
P.S. Brady likes to nap inside the new displays!

Sweet Opportunity!

If you haven't seen our Sweet Heart Pendant promo yet, stop reading, scroll down three blogs, and take 28 seconds to check it out. Trust me: it'll put a grin on your face... then scroll back on up here!

Alright, so now we've all seen the little bone hearts scooting around to the pop synth melodies of Architecture in Helsinki. It's a fun video and the Sweet Heart Pendant is a fun piece. I love the creativity happening in our office and I love the products that we are designing, but what I get most excited about is what that creativity and those products produce... opportunity.

Every piece we create in partnership with our Artisans in Africa and sell here in the States is creating more opportunity to build a better future for those with which we work in Uganda and Kenya. Every piece is sustaining and creating new jobs and funding the life-changing work of Global Support Mission and Know.Think.Act.

When I see someone wearing one of our pieces, I see more than a fashion statement... I see an opportunity. An opportunity to share the story of the difference that is being made and the hope that opportunity brings!

We couldn't do it without your support, so THANK YOU to everyone out there who has taken a piece of Red Earth home with them... and every time you wear it, remember that it's an opportunity to let the world know that WE CAN make a DIFFERENCE!

-Travis

Team RETCo.

180° South: Conquerors of the Useless.

From time to time, I get the chance to watch a movie that really moves me. A few days ago, a friend of mine recommended I watch the documentary 180° South: Conquerors of the Useless. 

180° South follows Jeff Johnson as he retraces the path of his heroes, Yvon Chouinard and Doug Tompkins, to Patagonia on their epic life journey in 1968. After being shipwrecked off Easter Island, he has the chance to surf the longest wave of his life and begins to prepare himself for the ascent of Cerro Corcovado. He also gets the chance to meet up with Chouinard and Tompkins along the way, who have come to Patagonia to spend their fortunes protecting its beauty. 

This is an incredible documentary with an amazing story in some of the most beautiful places on earth. I definitely recommend watching it. 

-Edwin

Team RETCo. 

Meet Adam Buzard

My story is like every Michael Cera movie... just a classic coming of age tale filled with hijinks, pitfalls, and hamburger phones. My wife and I are excited to be here in Nashville and I am stoked to be joining the team at Global Support Mission to work for the Know.Think.Act program. 


My professional background is in the church, with my first job being a youth and young adults pastor out in California. While I loved being on the beach, after several years God called us to a church in Saint Louis, which lacks beaches. God has consistently been tweaking who I am and showing me more of who I am created to be and that is what has brought us here. My passion is for the church to realize it's potential to make a tangible impact around the globe, and that will be a big part of what I will get to do here at GSM. 


I love that even though my primary responsibilities will be with Know.Think.Act, I get  to partner with Red Earth Trading Company and work alongside the team. Currently I am rocking the coin bracelet, and am excited about the upcoming Exchange Tour. Thanks for being a part of making a real difference both here, and around the world. 


-Adam
Community Growth Coordinator
Know.Think.Act.

HandCrafted, Heartfelt.

We're excited to introduce this video for our first collaboration, the Sweet Heart Pendant.

This is our very first Red Earth Exclusive design. Designed in collaboration with our friend Benson in Nairobi. If you would like to purchase one of these, you can do so here.

Music By: Architecture in Helsinki

-Team RETCo.

Behind the Scenes at the Summer Photoshoot

Happy Monday, everybody!

AJ put together yet another video masterpiece! This one gives a look inside our most recent photoshoot. Check it out!



The shoot was a lot of fun and we can't thank everyone enough that helped out!

Hope this starts your week off right!

-Kerbi
Team RETCo.

Rumspringa, The Soundtrack of my life.

This week I had to do some of the longest drives of the Red Earth tour so far. Lucky our good friend Dan Brigham's band Canon Blue released their newest record Rumspringa. I have to say after listening to it about a million times on repeat, its going to be one of my top 3 records of the year!

If you want to preview the record, feel free to book a house party and I'll make sure you get a listen. (Or just go to itunes and buy it!)

Thats it for now, remember if you want to be a part of The Exchange tour by booking a house party, email me at Tour@redearthtradingco.com.

-Edwin
Team RETCo.

Meet the Artisans!

Have you checked out the new RETCo. website? If you have, you probably noticed that we have a brand new section called Artisans.

There, you can meet the people that make all of our jewelry and view their collections. We really want you to see the faces and hear the stories of the artisans because they are the heart of the company.

RETCo. was created to support these small businesses by working with them directly and helping them sell their products. As RETCo. grows, these small businesses do too.

 Travis with Benson (bone jewelry artisan)

We want you to know who your purchase is supporting and that it is making a difference in someone's life.

Go check it out! Have a great weekend!

-Kerbi
Team RETCo.

Our new site is up!

We've been working hard trying to create a better online store. Today, we officially unveil to you the new and improved redearthtradingco.com.

We have all of our new products up too, and we are really excited to show you!

Take a look and let us know what you think! A big thank you to everyone that was a part of the process.

-Kerbi & the entire RETCo. Team