Created with the sole purpose of empowering women, Tribe Alive is a lifestyle brand which helps to raise women out of poverty all around the world, through ethical fashion. The Fort Worth based company sells handmade clothing, jewelry, handbags, accessories, and home goods which can be purchased on the company’s website, in their new boutique storefront, or through retailers all over the world. Founder Carly Burson got the idea to start Tribe Alive while she was in Ethiopia with her husband finalizing the adoption of their daughter. During the trip to Ethiopia, Burson realized the issues of child relinquishment on a global scale, and was struck that circumstances in developing countries, such as economic insecurity, prevent women from being able to care for their own children. By utilizing her years of prior experience in the fashion industry, and being inspired by her daughter’s birth mother, Burson created a brand with a mission to elevate women out of poverty in hopes of giving women an opportunity to raise their own children by creating full-time jobs for at-risk women in the developing world.
Burson started Tribe Alive hoping to make an impact in the lives of a few women. She realized that there were so many women who had incredible skill sets to make beautiful products, but they were lacking western design consultations, and things that could actually sell and have access to the market place. Burson knew that by utilizing her knowledge in the fashion industry, she would be able to solve this problem. Burson started small and partnered with a non-profit in Honduras teaching women how to make simple jewelry. She also partnered with a few artisans in Guatemala who already had an indigenous weaving craft. She helped them learn to weave more modern textiles that would be popular in the U.S. Within one year, Tribe Alive expanded to India and Haiti, and the company has most recently started working with refugee women in the Fort Worth Area as well as partnering with a local non-profit organization that employs women transitioning out of prison. Burson went from having 5 or 6 artisans in two countries employed to now having over 200 artisans in five different countries employed. The company provides its workers with a safe working environment and fair-trade wages which gives them the opportunity to get out of poverty, while giving the workers the power to choose their own futures. Tribe Alive expanded from selling only jewelry to also selling quality clothing, bags, accessories, and home goods, all which are made by hand, in only a few years. What started as an online retailer in 2014, Tribe Alive continues to grow and evolve, and in Spring 2018, the company opened their first retail space on Fort Worth’s Magnolia Avenue.
While Tribe Alive is a small boutique, there are several main players which keep the company running. The Tribe Alive team is made up of a designer, store employees, international makers, and non-profit organizations. Carly Burson is the Founder and CEO of Tribe Alive. Burson leads the team as well as oversees all operations that take place in the company. Katie Sansom is the senior designer and helps come up with product ideas. These designs are then taken to the international makers who are the women that brings the designs to life by producing the goods. Tribe Alive partners with non-profit organizations who offer women fair wage employment as well as free-skill training. The non-profits work on location at the studios and oversee production. The store employees run the day-to-day operations such as selling the products to customers, connecting with customers, and educating customers on the mission of the company. All of these team members come together with the same goal, which is what makes Tribe Alive come alive.
Tribe Alive is a company that focuses on making sustainable products through their ethical practices. Rather than competing with other fair-trade companies, Tribe Alive wants to compete with big name retailers for the market share that they hold. Tribe Alive competes with big companies who do not pay their workers enough money to live off of, and do not follow safety regulations in their factories as well as refusing to consider the environmental impact of their production. The cost for these big brands to manufacture goods is a fraction of the cost it takes for Tribe Alive to manufacture goods. Tribe Alive has to convince consumers that it’s worth it to pay more for a brand like their own, and tries to get consumers to realize that there is a high cost for buying cheap fashion.
One thing that helps to make Tribe Alive stand out is its boutique store. The front half of the store is a showroom where customers can look and touch the products being sold. The back half of the store is a design studio where customers can observe the inter-workings of the company from the design process to the communication with the craftswomen. The company holds events such as yoga and watercolor classes in the store to help bring together and empower women. For the holiday’s the company hosted a shopping party for customers featuring a live acoustic performance, a raffle, and even a hot chocolate bar as well as snacks and cider mimosas. Tribe Alive also partners with many brands that they love such as Box of Style, Fab Fit Fun, Cause Box, Diff Charitable Eyewear and Uncommon James Home, just to name a few.
Tribe Alive is a worldwide artistic collaboration that empowers and employs high-risk women in developing parts of the world, helping these women break free of poverty. The company gives women full-time jobs as well as instilling confidence and hope its workers. Although Tribe Alive is a small company, it has a big global impact. Tribe Alive is setting an example for the fashion industry and shows other companies that change can be created.