Sustainability isn’t mainstream…yet.

Today, I attended the San Francisco International Gift Fair where more than 1000 exhibitors presented wholesale products ranging from scarves to furniture.

In all the chaos that is a trade show, two companies stood out. World Finds and Handmade Expressions were two of only a handful promoting fair trade goods. There were even fewer jewerly companies there with which C5 would ever consider doing business. One jewelry wholesaler told me that recycled metal couldn’t be used in fine jewerly (wrong!). Another said that his company used “simulated” gems and then didn’t know what that meant.

I bring this up to provide you with a sense of the environment in which C5 exists. It remains challenging for us to find vendors that share our values. We welcome recommendations as we work hard to serve the growing community of conscious consumers.