New Fashion Line Provides Education For Women In Need

CINCINNATI - May 15, 2014 - PRLog -- Sustainable and ethical fashion brand lur® apparel (www.lurapparel.com) announced a new program to increase the social impact of purchasing clothing. The company is calling the new commitment, “Wear It Forward.” Now for every item purchased on the company’s website, lur® apparel provides a woman in rural Guatemala with a week of vocational training.

“We’re launching the Wear It Forward commitment to create a tangible link between our customers and those who benefit from our social mission,” said founder and CEO Mark Heiman. “Our hope is that this commitment is an easy way to communicate our mission of creating prosperity in the areas where we operate.”

The commitment grew out of the company’s existing relationship with non-profit partner Miracles in Action. Miracles in Action works to support the Amigos de Santa Cruz Foundation, which develops programs for the indigenous population of Santa Cruz La Laguna - the same region where lur® manufactures their clothes.

Amigos runs four key programs in Guatemala: nutrition and health, a youth program for teens, primary school education, and adult vocational training. The adult vocational training program, called CECAP (Centro de Capacitacion), offers programs for students and adults (mostly women) in sewing, computer education, carpentry, welding and foot loom weaving. These skills help participants get jobs, start businesses, and create products for sale in both local and international markets.

lur® believes the commitment to CECAP is important for the company and customers alike because Santa Cruz is one of the most impoverished and isolated regions in the world. “With Wear It Forward we have the ability to leverage education to improve the local economy, create a social impact that goes beyond the individual, and best of all, create a rising tide of prosperity,” said Marketing Manager Tonya Mitchell. “We aren’t just giving a hand out to those in need, we’re helping create lasting, sustainable change in an important area.”

The Wear It Forward commitment represents an expansion of lur®’s support for CECAP. Since the company’s launch lur® has supported CECAP vocational training center with a portion of their profits. Additionally through a second non-profit partner Friendship Bridge, lur® donates funds to provide microloans to women starting or growing their own businesses in the region.

News of the Wear It Forward program comes as lur® is also working with CECAP participants to create products for their upcoming accessory line of scarves. The scarves, made from lur®’s fabric scraps, will be produced by students during and after their training and sold online and through retail stores in the United States and Canada. The students will be paid directly for the goods they produce, increasing their wages and market opportunities.

“Although our support at this time is limited to CECAP, we are investigating expanding the commitment to include domestic opportunities as well,” said Heiman. “We can see one day using this commitment to provide meals for the hungry, or similar education and training to those in need here in the U.S.”

lur® encourages interested individuals to visit their website (www.lurapparel.com) to learn more about the Wear It Forward commitment and to remember that for every item purchased, they’ll provide a full week of valuable, life-changing, vocational training to a Santa Cruzeña in need.


About lur® apparel

lur® is enduring style, fashioned for a better world. lur® takes pride in knowing that for a piece of clothing to be truly beautiful, it needs to benefit more than just its wearer. Thanks in part to the unique fabric, lur® apparel is more sustainable and environmentally friendly than organic cotton - while still remaining just as beautiful and soft to the touch. A portion of the profits from lur® go to help women establish their own businesses and gain access to education to allow themselves, their families, and their communities the opportunity to rise out of poverty. lur® is based in Cincinnati, Ohio, and manufacturers their products in socially compliant facilities in Guatemala.

For more information about the Amigos de Santa Cruz Foundation, visit their website at http://www.amigosdesantacruz.org

For learn more about Miracles in Action, see http://www.miraclesinaction.org.