About
Through this Kickstarter Campaign we aim to raise and bring this collection to life, launch the LovingElephant.com website and officially join the cause for creating awareness of the abuse done to elephants in Thailand.
Our diverse team has created a collection of stylish handbags, clothing, and accessories that are printed or embroidered with intricate and unique elephant images, and inspired by our love for these kind hearted animals. We craft high quality and authentic products that hold the same enchanted, playful, and loving nature that Asian Elephants possess.
These products represent our spirit and liveliness. We welcome you to join us in the cause!
We are Fair Trade because we’ve chosen to provide our employees with good wages, fair hours, and great working conditions. In the West these principles may seem like something that is expected, but often workers here, especially in the sewing trade, are often exploited by horribly low wages and inhumane working conditions. We pride ourselves on the environment our fabulous team has the opportunity to work in.
We start by working with high quality textiles that come from the indigenous hill tribes of Northern Thailand, Laos and Yunnan. Our passion for trading artisanal goods from hill tribe communities has brought us here.
We love sourcing in remote villages and local markets because these traditional materials are made with ancestral techniques. Having them in our hands, and transforming them into beautiful and unique handbags, clothing and accessories is a common pleasure we all share.
Each of our hand crafted products is designed and made by a fierce group of women who have made Ethnic Lanna the success it is today.
These skilled female artisans come from the same hill tribe communities that have maintained a deep love and respect for wild elephants. Our goal with The Loving Elephant Project, is to support the animals that these hill tribes have such a rich history with.
Our designers have a knack for putting thoughtful artistry into the images and patterns they create.
About a year ago, we discovered the efforts of a Karen hill tribe woman named Lek (whose name means small in Thai). Upon learning about The Elephant Nature Park, and it’s free spirited bunch of elephants, we decided that we had to join Lek. From our combined forces, The Loving Elephant Project was created.
- EACH ELEPHANT EATS 250 KGS. OF FOOD PER DAY
- 67 ELEPHANTS LIVE HAPPILY AT THE ENP, CONSUMING OVER 117,000 KGS. PER WEEK
- THEY NEED OUR HELP!
Two of the adult elephants at ENP, Jokia and Mae Perm, have been best friends for almost 20 years. Jokia has been left blind from abuse in the logging industry. When Mae Perm realized Jokia’s blindness, she became not only Jokia’s best friend, but her caretaker. Their friendship, a sign of the altruism in elephants, motivates us to push for better lives for elephants in Thailand.
We hope that with the success of this campaign, and the success of our new brand, we can foster a relationship with the elephant conservation cause that resembles the bond between the lovely Jokia and loving Mae Perm. We promise to take care of the elephants who have inspired The Loving Elephant Collection.
Risks and challenges
Producing, designing and shipping our products from Northern Thailand to the rest of the world presents a few challenges:
Sourcing Raw Materials - There are textile wonders in this remote part of the world, though reaching where they are takes a great deal of travel, and communication can often be difficult. Raw materials are hard to find, and many times suppliers do not deliver the quality we require and/or the punctuality we need for delivery. This is why the last 6 years of experience sourcing out these wonderful treasures has given us a very important asset: connections with the hill tribes. Several artisans from our workshop come from these hill tribes, so we have direct communication with the people sourcing these materials. Many of our materials are handmade, and what we have in stock depends on the livelihood of small communities, so we can only offer what’s readily available at any given time.
High Quality Control - The fact that our products are handmade can make some people question the quality of things such as design, stitching and packaging for delivery. Our socially and environmentally conscious customers inspire us to be very particular. From the moment we source our raw materials to the meticulous way we package the orders for delivery, we are involved in every step of the process to ensure it’s perfect before it’s sent out to you. Our artisans are well trained and many have known how to sew, stitch, and do authentic printing since they were young. They love using their perfected techniques as well as learning new ones, so they can achieve the best results.
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Funding period
- (34 days)