1. 4 Step Guide to Ethical and Sustainable Shopping Ethical shopping, breaking up with fast-fashion, becoming a conscious consumer: these are all terms you may have heard tossed around. But what does it all really mean and how does one do it well? What is Ethical Shopping? Ethical shopping is buying goods without harming or exploiting animals, people, environments, etc. It can also be defined as shopping in a way that aligns with your personal beliefs and morals. For more background on this concept, check out What is Ethical Shopping. What is...
  2. Getting to Know: Haiti's History We are proud to work alongside remarkable leaders in Haiti, and we love sharing stories, culture, and beauty that are present in the country. In honor of Black History Month, here are a few insights to shed light on Haiti and her contributions to history and culture. Haitian History Haiti is well known for the successful revolt against France by formerly enslaved people which led to independence on January 1st, 1804. Every year on January 1st people in Haiti celebrate their independence day...
  3. A Closer Look at Our Metal Art Recycled Steel Drum Metal Art from Haiti has been famous worldwide for decades. It's been a while since we've had new Metal Art pieces in our collection, and today we are so excited to bring you these GORGEOUS brand new pieces! 1. Votive Candle Holder Hand-carved metal candle holder, made from recycled steel. Perfect for creating warm lighting in your home. 2. Metal Art Scroll Bowl Intricately detailed hand-crafted metal bowl. Perfect for decor, not meant for food (except the kind ...
  4. Father's Day Fathers have an incredible influence that runs deep and far in our lives. They often offer endless love and instill hope and dreams in their children. Father’s Day is approaching, which means it’s almost time to celebrate them and show our appreciation. Because of the great impact of fathers all over the world, we made this Father’s Day gift guide to help you choose the best gift for your dad! 1. Leather Wallets Gift your Dad convenience with one of our wallets. We offer the Minimalist Wall...
  5. N’ap Keep Going Haiti is one of the most stressful countries to live in. Anxiety has reached the highest level in our lives. It seems the farther we want to go in whatever we are working towards, the more distractions there are with political unrest, insecurity, and bad news in general. Without even knowing, we can become so addicted to keeping up with the “bad news” of what is going on around us that we lose focus on our goals. We always feel so powerless and so small in whatever situation we are going thro...
  6. Introducing the 10-Minute Essay Imagine with me you’ve finished dinner and you go around the table and hand out a journal and a pen to each person seated there. Then you lean in and say. “I want to know you more.” Thus you begin the Your Very Own 10-minute essay Tradition! “What a wonderful world” is playing in the background. You choose the prompt for the night provided in the booklet stored in the back of the journal. Everyone smiles in agreement and happily writes the prompt at the top of their journal page. You...
  7. Why Join Our Sub Club Let’s say you just found out that a friend or co-worker has a birthday today. And you want to be the kind of gift giving person that always has a thoughtful gift on hand? We can help! 2nd Story Goods has a monthly Sub Club! Did you know that? And it’s only $27 a month. And that includes Shipping! With our Sub Club each month you get a box of gorgeous hand crafted goods that you will want to keep for yourself, but because you are the kind of gift giving person, you’re going to love ...
  8. Celebrating More Original Goods! It has been 10 years of 2nd Story Goods and we have already shared five of our classic products so now we have five more goods that have been with us from the start! Bottle Bottom Ornament I love these pieces. They are not particularly great selling ornaments. They are not particularly easy to make. We rarely get orders for them. but I like them, i do. They speak “2nd Story”. I like the way the smoothed glass feels in my hand, I like the way the simple sand-casted aluminum fits snugly in...
  9. A Closer Look at Our New Products We have some exciting new products to share at 2nd Story Goods! We were so inspired by our customer’s style AND our artisan’s skills, we just couldn’t decide which one to base our new collection on. So, we didn’t choose! We found a way to marry your incredible style and our local materials in Haiti like never before, and this is the result. Don’t let the numbers fool you, this is not a ranking. If it were, they would all have a “1” beside them; we love them all, please don’t make us choose!...
  10. A Closer Look at More of Our New Products! We are taking a closer look at even MORE of our new products here at 2nd Story Goods!! Check out some of our favorite new products and see why we love them...we promise you'll love them, too!! Plus, they are all ethically-made, support our makers in Haiti, AND will look super cute all season long! 1. Harvest Apron Our first featured new product is one of our favorites! The Harvest Apron is our apron design that was months in the making. It's cute, comfy, and practical. The pockets a...
  11. Fall Favorites Struggling to find cute, ethically-made fall fashion and accessories? Shop some of our favorite fall products, all of which are made ethically, support makers in Haiti, and will look super cute all autumn long! Fall is upon us, and we thought that, along with warm cups of coffee, pumpkin scented candles, and cozy sweaters, you might want to pull out some 2nd Story Goods fall gear that will enhance your look AND make a difference! Here’s our favorite items that are perfect for fall: 1. S...
  12. Fall and Winter Style Guide Need some ideas for cute fall and winter outfits that you'll feel good about wearing? Take a look at some of our favorite products for the upcoming seasons... Geo Necklace The gold accents on the chain and tassels makes this necklace perfect for fall and also a great glamour piece for new years. The best part? You don’t have to choose between silver and gold jewelry with this one! The upcycled aluminum combined with the gold chain means it matches any earrings, bracelets, or rings you...
  13. The Border Crisis I have so many thoughts about what transpired at the Texas border in Del Rio.⁠ ⁠ But, at the conclusion of the complex processing of it all, I come back to this: Pay Attention to what you want more of. I put my attention on the ones doing good work. The ones working In Haiti, to build up its safety and economy and structures for business. I pay attention to educating students well and training people in skills that they can grow. There are many! My eyes are on the men and women in Haiti...
  14. The Hope of Haiti We could all use a little encouragement right now. A few weeks ago we asked our social media followers and our staff to write a 10 minute essay on Hope. This is what one of our brilliant Haitian leaders had to say.⁠Hope⁠⁠⁠Between the political unrest, gas shortage and all things that are bringing all kinds of fear to my everyday life, one of the things that keeps me alive is hope. Hope in “People”. ⁠⁠⁠Every 2 weeks we have to go to port au prince to get our goods to the company that does ship...
  15. On Kidnappings You know that we exist to shine a light on the beautiful parts of Haiti. The parts so often unseen by the world. But the reality of Haiti, just like any other place, is that of both/and. Haiti is BOTH unbelievably beautiful in a million ways, AND it has very real, very devastating, very complex problems. We would be doing her a great disservice to not also shine a light on the reality of these problems. You may have heard about the recent kidnapping of foreign missionaries in Haiti. It is co...
  16. Consistency Some thoughts from Jude, our Haitian photographer and marketing team member on consistency. The other day I was walking to work. And I was really frustrated because I couldn’t find a tap-tap. The roads were blocked. I said to myself “here we go again.” Then as I kept going, I saw a lady who sells shoes, ( the machann pèpè) laying her shoes out on the ground, ready to sell them. I was shocked. I was like I can’t believe she is putting herself in danger like this. I even went as far as to say t...