FE HANDBAGS
Fe Handbags is an exclusive Colombian handbag and jewelry brand, that blends ancient tribal art forms with new-age fashion. All of our handbags are handmade with 100% genuine leather. Each piece is masterfully crafted by Colombian artisans and includes traditional art patterns provided by indigenous tribes such as Tules, Embera, and Wayuu. Fe empowers indigenous and artisan women, who sustain their families through their artisan work while preserving their culture, identity, and traditions.
STORY
Fe was born in 2015 to help to solve the social problem of indigenous homeless people from Chocó that live in Medellín, Colombia. This is why we have decided to work in cooperation with the indigenous women from the Embera, Tule, and Wayuu communities, designing handbags and jewelry. Fe has a special emphasis on fair work and trade practices with the tribes. In particular, we work with homeless Indigenous women in the city of Medellin, empowering them to be able to provide for their families using the traditional artisanal techniques they learned in their tribes. Because we believe a job and purpose is the best way to break the cycle of poverty these women are stuck in to bring them opportunities and a better future.
FOUNDER VALENTINA PALACIOS
"We believe a job and purpose is the best way to break the cycle of poverty, that’s why in Fe Handbags we work with homeless Indigenous women in the city of Medellin, empowering them to be able to provide for their family, bring them opportunities and a better future."
COLOMBIA
If you are planning to visit Colombia, here are a few places you can check out:
1. Cartagena a historic colonial town. Cartagena is a magical place; a place where Colombian culture, romantic colonial Spanish architecture, carefree Caribbean vibes, and beautiful ocean views meld together seamlessly. This city exudes its intricate history through its stone walls and balconies, its vibrant colorful buildings, and its narrow, cobbled streets. Cartagena is the sum of its incredible parts; colonial, republican, and modern architecture.
2. Medellin is known as “the city of eternal spring” for the consistently pleasant weather. Located in the Andes, surrounded by mountains and bright colors. The city has a hipster vibe that makes this place really unique. It has plenty of plazas, parks, botanical gardens, cool street art, museums and restaurants that you can enjoy.
3. Eje Cafetero, where one of the best Coffee beans from the world is grown, harvested and processed. You can visit Colombian Natural Park, with one of the most stunning trees in the world. “Valle del Cocora”. Also, it´s a great opportunity to visit Salento, one of our favorites towns from Colombia, this place is wonderful to spend a few days at a romantic coffee farm-turned-bed & breakfast and do tours at coffee plantations, if you are a Coffee lover, this would be an incredible experience.
1 NO POVERTY - We work with homeless Indigenous women in the city of Medellin creating jobs that adapt to their needs and culture. We strongly believe this is the best way to break the cycle of poverty these women are stuck in, bringing them new opportunities and a better future.
4 QUALITY EDUCATION - We work under a tailor-made schedule that allows the women to put their kids in the school that the government of Medellin provides, and benefit from the “Buen Comienzo” program that the city offers.
5 GENDER EQUALITY - The indigenous women are usually considered under-age and not capable of making any decisions on their own inside their communities. Once they are in the city, we work really hard to empower them to provide for their family using the traditional artisanal techniques they learned in their tribes, thereby giving them the power to create their own financial autonomy.
8 DECENT WORK AND ECONOMIC GROWTH - We work closely with our artisans to build a strong relationship based on ethical working conditions, allowing them to have a steady income that gives them the opportunity to think and plan for the future.
10. REDUCED INEQUALITIES - So far we have worked with over 50 indigenous or artisans families across Colombia to help them generate a steady income. And our goal is to triple this number by 2025.
11 SUSTAINABLE CITIES AND COMMUNITIES - We work with the Tule community for the production of mola's. Part of the profit that the community gets from Fe goes to a community fund to improve the infrastructure inside of the community.
12 RESPONSIBLE CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION - We have a unique production approach where production follows demand. In order to minimize waste, we re-purpose leather leftover from the production of our handbags to make products for our corporate product line. We also give the supplies that haven't been used over a 6 months period to our indigenous communities for them to use in their own designs.
13 CLIMATE ACTION - We use a more expensive process to dye the leather that creates one third of the contamination created by all other leather made in Colombia.
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