Ten Thousand Villages - History

History

The philosophy of Ten Thousand Villages was inspired by Mennonite Christianity. Mennonite values include compassion, service, mutual aid, and peacemaking. As such, the global fair trade movement officially began with the founding of Ten Thousand Villages more than 60 years ago through the work of Edna Ruth Byler, a pioneering businesswoman. She was moved to take action by the poverty she witnessed during a trip to Puerto Rico in 1946.

Byler began a grassroots campaign among her family and friends in the United States by selling handcrafted products out of the trunk of her car. She believed that she could provide sustainable economic opportunities for artisans in developing countries by creating a viable marketplace for their products. For the next 30 years, Byler worked to connect individual entrepreneurs in developing countries with market opportunities in North America.

In the 1970s the small project moved out of Byler's basement to become SELFHELP Crafts of the World, an official program of the Mennonite Central Committee. In 1996, SELFHELP became Ten Thousand Villages, a retail company that has grown to feature more than 100 stores in the United States and Canada. The new name was inspired by Mahatma Gandhi who said “India is not to be found in its few cities but in the 700,000 villages.”

By 2008, the company’s sales had surpassed $25.5 million, one third of which was paid to artisans directly. The other two thirds covered importing, storage, marketing, retail costs, and administration.

In 2012, Ten Thousand Villages and Mennonite Central Committee entered a partnership agreement. Ten Thousand Villages is no longer wholly owned by MCC.