Interview with Ellen Reich of Three Stone Steps
Ellen Reich started her company Three Stone Steps in 2006 after being frustrated about not being able to find fairly made, attractive and functional accessories from foreign countries. Her passion for social justice prompted her to try to provide these kinds of items to the community while keeping their source in mind.
Ellen (background) shows her products to some customers
Originally Reich was not going to go the retail route with her products, but is having more success with that then trying to wholesale these types of items.
“before this economic slowdown, I was more focused on wholesaling my products, something that dropped off a great deal around the end of last year. I made the decision then to focus more on direct retailing, at places like the Tuesday Market, and have had pretty good results.”
Reich has 15 years of experience in the U.S. labor movement and expresses on her website that she is not trying to use “green” or “fair-trade” as terms for marketing, but really takes a personal interest and responsibility for everything that Three Stone Steps sells.
Until earlier this year, all of her products were from Cambodia, but she recently expanded to include items from Vietnam, Philippines and Haiti and hopes to have even more selection by the fall.
Nice to see you incorporating your photos in the reporting blog posts.