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Freeset - About Fair Trade and Freedom

Ranked #11,848 in Culture & Society, #240,134 overall

Freeset - Helping Women Find Freedom

Freeset operates in Sonagacchi, the largest and most infamous sex district in Kolkata, India. Their products are made by women who have been given the choice to leave the sex trade. Freeset trains and employs these women. Though these women still live in the same area they have now been given the opportunity to rise above their circumstances. They are given a fair wage, benefits, savings plan, education, and childcare. When you purchase their products you are becoming part of their journey to freedom.

In Business for Freedom

Many of the women who work in the sex trade in the Sonagocchi district of Kolkata, have been stolen from their homes, tricked, or sold into prostitution. In the class system they languish at the bottom of the heap. Most of the women can neither read nor write and often cannot count. Women in Sonagocchi can live their entire lives trapped within a one km. radius of where they sell their bodies.

In 1999 Kerry and Annie Hilton left New Zealand to create a viable business, teaching the women to read and write as well as training them to become skilled workers and business women. Freeset started with 20 women who chose freedom. In 2008, 130 women had chosen freedom, making 200,000 bags each year. In 2010 there were 153 women employed by Freeset.

The women of Freeset are paid several times what they could make at a similar job elsewhere - if they could find someone willing to hire them. The business belongs to the women and they are basically working for themselves. The job is more than a handout. The women know they have to show up and do their best to get somewhere. They know they are working towards their freedom.

Freeset wants to be a business that makes a powerful difference in peoples lives. Freeset is about transforming people and a community.

What Can You Do

Each purchase of a Freeset product directly contributes to the ongoing journey to freedom of the women there. You can purchase a bag individually for yourself or a gift.

Orders of 100 bags or more can be customized for conferences, fundraisers, or stores.

Imagine using a bag that is not only practical but changes lives as well!

Cross Connect Associates in Canada have a heart for helping the women of Freeset and can help with placing orders for bags, whether for fundraisers, conferences, or individualy.

If you live in Alberta, Canada, check out http://freesetbagsalberta.yolasite.com/ for more information and bags available there.

It's About Freedom

Freeset Photos

There are many Freeset bag designs available and bags can be custom made for large orders such as for conferences, stores, or fundraisers.
Freeset is a member of the Fair Trade Federation.
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Freeset Blog

http://freesetglobal.com/blog.html

You can subscribe to Freeset's Blog for more insight into Freeset.
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Pay Raises and New Trainees

As reported in a recent Freeset newsletter, in April 2011 the staff received a 20% pay rise. Around the world, the bite of inflation and higher costs of living is being felt and India is no exception. Freeset is committed to maximizing the women's remuneration, ensuring that they are paid a fair wage to provide for the needs of their families.

There are currently nine new women in training at Freeset. Rina, who leads the training program, has a challenging job. It's not just about teaching the girls to sew but also helping them to embrace freedom in their lives. "Since my mother was in the trade I understand where the girls are coming from. It is my heart's desire that they will find freedom. My job is not easy because the new girls have many problems to get past. But it is worth it!"

TOTAL WOMEN EMPLOYED = 153 !

You Can Make a Difference

Promoting Freeset

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Freeset - In Business For Freedom

This is a recent video updating the work done at Freeset. This video as well as others can be found on Freeset's Youtube channel.
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Freeset Video

Cross Connect Associates

Interview with Cheryl Trott of Cross Connect Associates.
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Calcutta Hilton Documentary

Documentary About Freeset

I highly recommend the Calcutta Hilton documentary made in 2005 by Sinclair Enterprises. It tells the story of how Kerry and Annie Hilton and their family came to start the business of Freeset. The interviews with the people working there are very touching. It is a difficult but inspiring story.
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Freeset Materials

Natural and Organic

Freeset's raw materials are sourced from suppliers who use sustainable farming and production processes. This means they avoid the use of chemicals, hormones and preservatives which damage the Earth and are harmful to people. Pesticides and fertilizers used to grow non-organic cotton have an extraordinary impact on the Earth and on those who work it-that's why Freeset sources 100% Ecocert organic cotton for t-shirts. The cotton is also dyed using a 100% organic process.

Freeset uses only water-based ink for screen printing, avoiding harmful petro-chemicals and compounds.

Freeset bags are made from Jute and while not 100% organic like cotton, it is locally grown and only requires small amounts of pesticides in the farming process.

About Jute

An Environmentally Friendly Fibre

juteThe natural fiber used in the fabric of Freeset bags comes from the stem and outer skin of the jute plant. Jute is also known as hessian or burlap. It is a rain-fed crop that doesn't need much in the way of fertilizers or pesticides. Jute is environmentally friendly and can be recycled. The young stems can also be eaten.

India is the world's main producer of jute, followed by Bangladesh. Jute is an annual plant that can grow up to 4m (14 ft.) tall. It is planted, cultivated, and harvested by hand within four to five months. After harvest the stems are bundled and soaked in water (retted) for two to three weeks. After the retting process the fibres are separated from the remaining stem, rinsed, thoroughly wrung and hung to dry. The dry fibres are yellowish white, soft and lustrous.

Freeset Links

Freeset Bags Available in Northern Alberta
Link to a web site with Freeset Bags available in Alberta.
Cross Connect Associates
Contact us to place orders for conference bags or fundraisers!
Cross Connect Associates primary focus is to provide corporations, businesses and individuals a means to purchase fair trade products that enable the disadvantaged to rise above their circumstances and change their lives for the better.
Freesetglobal.com
Freeset opened its doors in 2001 with twenty women brave enough to trust a couple of foreigners and seize the opportunity to leave the sex trade behind.
All profits from Freeset in Kolkata benefit the women (salary, health insurance and retirement plan) and are used to grow the business. This means more women can be employed and experience freedom.
Freeset on facebook
Follow Freeset on facebook!
Freeset on twitter
Follow Freeset on twitter!
Stitching A Better Future
2011 article in Auckland City Harbour News
True Mission Doesn't Start at the Top
December 2010 article about Kerry and Annie Hilton and Freeset on Baptist Churches of New Zealand site
Couple Trade In Freedom
An article on stuff.co.nz about Kerry and Annie Hilton, the couple that founded Freeset.
Freeset - Redefining Profit
Link to an online Freeset brochure that tells their story.
Prostitutes Welcome at the "Calcutta Hilton"
Link to an article on the documentary "Calcutta Hilton" about Kerry and Annie Hilton and Freeset.
2008 Freeset Interview by Christian Marketplace
A 2008 interview with Mark Wakeling by Christian Marketplace.

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  • ShamanicShift Oct 2, 2010 @ 8:45 pm | delete
    This is a very informative and well done lens! I have featured it on my Fair-Trade-Coffee-Buy lens.
  • DMMoulton Nov 28, 2010 @ 4:22 pm | delete
    Thank you for the kind words and feature!
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DMMoulton

Hi! I've joined Squidoo as a learning experience and with the main hope of helping to spread the word about "Freeset". I live in western Canada and wo... more »

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