Latitudes Fair Trade: How It All Began

Celebrating 15 Years

This year, Latitudes Warrenton celebrates 15 years of fair trade, community, and handcrafted goods.

Step into any Latitudes Fair Trade Store and you will understand why. Each shop transports you around the world with unique handmade goods, artisan stories, and a journey for the senses.

Experience an array of aromas as you enter the door, the floral notes of candles mingling with the juicy scent of orange from essential oil testers. Bright colors and fun textures line the shelves from home goods to clothing. Recycled sari pants from India, knits from Nepal, and recycled tops from Haiti, to name a few.

No matter what, the beauty of handcrafted and the heart of fair trade quickly warms you as you shop. This beautiful store supports and uplifts artisans around the world, but what came before the store?

A Trip To Guatemala

Let’s go back. It’s July 2009, and Lee Owsley is on a trip to a language school in Guatemala. A grant has made this possible thanks to her job in the public education system, where she teaches English as a Second Language (ESL).

While in Guatemala, she lives with a local family, immersed in life in a remote part of the country. It’s here that Lee sees the deep need for the creation of jobs that offer a livable wage, safe working conditions, and dignified work. All of which are parts of the fair trade movement.

Let's go back a tiny further. 

Ugandan Jewelry

It's 2007, Lee receives an email from her friend Sarah Adams, who is working with a group of women in Uganda who hand-make jewelry. She is seeking out anyone who might be willing to sell some of the jewelry. Excited by the idea, Lee goes to church events and craft fairs, quickly moving inventory.

Brick-And-Mortar

Flash forward to 2010, having enjoyed supporting women in Uganda, finding success selling handcrafted jewelry, and experiencing life in rural Guatemala, Lee and her husband, Terry, open the first brick-and-mortar Latitudes Fair Trade Store in Warrenton, VA. 

This year, the Warrenton location celebrates 15 years of doors open, providing income, education, and dignified work to artisans around the world.

Now retired, Lee has passed the Warrenton store on to her daughter, Kelsey Neale, who not only shares her mother’s love of fair trade but has been part of the store for the past twelve years.

When asked about Kelsey taking over, Lee writes, “Kelsey is a constant ray of sunshine and positivity...I can't think of anyone who doesn't enjoy her sweet presence. I'm thrilled that the store will be in such capable hands!” 

Community First

15 years is no small feat, and not having expected the positive response to Latitudes, Lee finds it all comes back to community. “The store has fostered community from the word go,” she writes.

At first, a group of 12 volunteers ran the store while Lee was still teaching. Customers and friends continue to support the store year after year with purchases and encouragement. Family and employees have been instrumental, including her daughter, Emily Everhope, who has played a significant role in the interior design and layout of the stores.

Lee gives special thanks to her first employees, Ben Owsley and Donna Wilkers. Reflecting on her journey, she writes, “fair trade communities of artisans are the heart of what we do," recalling with joy the 15 or so trips where she visited many of them in person. 

Just The Beginning

Not long after finding success in fair trade, Terry opened a store in Fredericksburg, now owned by family friends Chris and Lori Working. Just a few years later, in 2015, Lee’s daughter Anna Schoenduby opened the Staunton location. 

As each store celebrates another year open, we look back on where it all began and look forward to all that is still to come. Thank you to every customer, for every purchase, for all your support, and for loving fair trade as much as we do.

Be sure to visit the Warrenton store and follow them on socials @latitudes_warrenton.

Written by Marketing and Communications Manager, Emma Sue Larramore