Hi GOEX Family -

Wow - the last 18 months have been a journey. That’s probably a pretty big understatement, actually. This has been a year and a half full of ups and downs, tears and celebrations. Eighteen months of juggling and pushing and apologizing and figuring it out. But as we mentioned in this update from June, we are committed to leaning in and supporting families no matter how challenging. And we couldn’t do any of it without you! Thank you for your flexibility, for your support, for your belief in us through delay after delay.

And with that, we are THRILLED to share that as of this week, we are sewing in Haiti again!

Our incredibly talented team is back to cutting and sewing the garments you and your clients love. For those of you who joined us in the middle of the last year and a half, get excited! You will soon start to see the Made in Haiti labels reappearing in our garments. When you look at those tags, I hope you will see the smile on a face that cares deeply about the quality of the garment. They care because it gives them the ability to care for their family through the dignity of their own work.  Making your garments is an incredible sense of pride for our team members. They know they’re exceptionally talented, they are paid well for their skills and they persevere through incredible odds to work. They are remarkable and we are honored to partner with them!

We also shared in June that our team will return to work with not only fair wage jobs, healthcare and lunch each day but will have the opportunity to participate in Strong Family, our signature family strengthening program.

Setting up Strong Family involves a trained social worker (whom we employ at the factory all of the time for employee support) as well as a modest pool of funds for incentives as members progress through the program. For the next two weeks, we’re offering you the opportunity to purchase our exclusive Grand Opening tee and all of the proceeds will go to the employee incentive fund. We hope you’ll take advantage of this opportunity to both celebrate with us and to invest in the team in this way. This is not charity, this is empowerment at its best!

Thank you again for your support. And for your patience. You all mean everything to us and your kindness fills us with both humility and gratitude.

Stay tuned for scenes from the factory and opportunities to keep celebrating as we celebrate Fair Trade Month in the absolute best way we could imagine!

Jessica Ray
Executive Director, GOEX