Organic cotton gently placed inside the Hanok house which still holds within the warmth of wood. The atmosphere surrounds me once stepping inside the shop, instantly reminds me of their deep consideration about the material.
The warmth of the shop reminds me of Japanese actress Yu AOI, who has natural relaxing style. Not flashy, not showy, simply blends into the surroundings and becomes even more beautiful . The shop has garments of “g:ru”, and as well lifestyle goods, chocolates, coffee, candles and it is filled with fair trade goods. I have purchased the skirf above; it was filled with warmth of hand.

Right: Lee Soyoung (c) Akari Kuga

I have heard stories from Lee Soyong who has been working at g:ru from its launch.

g:ru is a small business started in 2007, when no one knew what fair trade is in Korea. We were lucky and successful enough to have our own shop in 2008, and we gained customers claiming for g:ru and traveled for distance to purchase our items.
Our major customer ranges in 40-50 year old women, who has high concerns in international development, environmental issues, and health. However, not necessarily every person is not like that, there are some customers who didn’t know about fair trade until they met g:ru. They purchased our items simply because they loved the natural taste and design of g:ru.

Recently, we see few young customers who study fair trade at school, but fair trade and ethical fashion is still not popular enough in Korea. However, Korean government support social entrepreneur very positively. This shop earns grant from the city of Soeul. The grant specifically is used for payment to our new staff. Thanks to this support, social entrepreneurs become easier to hire new staff and it could give more chance to young ambitious people who are willing to work in this sector. I think it will be more better if we have more support service like this.

When I heard about support offered by city of Seoul, I was surprised how Korea’s fast in adapting to the new changes occuring in the society.
g:ru has partners in Asian countries such as India, Nepal and Bangladesh, and African developing countries. They stick to work done by artisans’ hands from the very beginning as weaving, and they try to be environmentally friendly at every step by using natural dyes and organic cottons.

The term “g:ru” is the word used when counting numbers of trees in Korea. One by one, one after another as tree grows, it will later become a forest. g:ru wishes numbers of people who love fair trade will increase one by one just like that, and later unite the world.

g:ru is run by social enterprise “FAIR TRADE KOREA” . And our next issue will be about interview to its chairman, Lee Miyong.