KNOWN FOR
Selling handcrafted lifestyle pieces made by small-producing communities around the world.
ABOUT THE BRAND
Our Barehands is an international platform selling beautiful, high-quality wares made by its artisan partners around the world. The company aims to change the heart of retail through three values: People First, Open Dialogue, and Originality. It’s registered as a Social Enterprise under the Singapore Centre for Social Enterprises and works with makers and producers in order to help increase their income sustainability and build strong connections. The brand supports and celebrates its producers’ artistry and storytelling skills, which may otherwise go unnoticed in today’s saturated global retail space.
VISION & MISSION
Our Barehands envisions a world in which every person and community has the ability to stand on their own two feet. The company is on a mission to make an open, honest, and lasting change in communities and believes the first step is to ensure sustainable livelihood for the communities it works with. Our Barehands’ future goals include growing brand awareness in Singapore and increasing corporate partnerships.
WHY IT’S CONSCIOUS
Our Barehands is conscious about the people it works with, re-investing into its artisans by connecting them to a network of resources, including training and up-skilling workshops hosted by like-minded people. The company is also committed to building strong communities and encourages artisan ownership, believing that the craft belongs to each individual maker. Its partners include a refugee sewing community in Malaysia, a deaf community in Singapore, and weavers in Venezuela and Columbia, among others.
Our Barehands sources only high quality materials for the products made, and sells a variety of items that are sustainable and natural, such as upcycled scrunchies, earrings featuring grains of turmeric and non-toxic resin, and vegetable-tanned leather slides.
Since COVID-19 emerged, the brand sells #SupportLocalBoxes, which include items such as block-printed, hand-sewn masks and bags made out of plastic bottles.
WHAT’S ITS FIGHT
PROTECT THE PLANET: Our Barehands supports the art of handcrafting, which avoids the environmentally destructive processes associated with mass production. The company also sources high quality, often-natural materials and supports its makers’ sustainable practices.
POWER TO THE PEOPLE: The company works closely with its producers to ensure they reach income sustainability, ownership of their craft, and continue to grow through connections and up-skilling workshops.
MEET THE FOUNDERS
Germaine Lye, Chanel Go, and Mitchell Zachariah Hong are behind Our Barehands. Germaine has worked across fields, from international trade to more recently heading up the corporate giving strategies for a large brand (which earnt them the Singapore Champion of Good Award in 2018), while Chanel uses design and marketing to pursue justice and equality within marginalised communities, such as migrant workers in Singapore. Mitchell is a specialist in developing and growing businesses and has founded a series of ventures, all of which have an underlying commitment to creating sustainable business platforms for rural communities in Southeast Asia.