FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 22^ndApril 2016

Shona Easton

Easton Design Studio

Tel: 01403 221886

shona@eastondesignstudio.com

Fashion Revolution: British handbag designer helps stem flow of villagers leaving in search of city tech jobs in India

 Supporting Fashion Revolution Week: www.fashionrevolution.org

With this week being Fashion Revolution week - it's great to be able to say YES, all our designs are ethically made!

6 years ago we were making our products in a cramped room in the heart of the city of Chennai but then came the technology boom. It drove up the rent and workers left every week, saying they'd found a new technology job at Microsoft or Nokia.

Sit it out and hope they'll realise the ‘grass isn't always greener', or make a positive move and take the work to somewhere where 100's of people want jobs but can't find them?

That's how we ended up setting up a brand new leather manufacturing workshop on a derelict farm in a rural Indian village. The villagers earned very little money from the rice farming that was the main source of income in the area and there were virtually no jobs for women. Our workshop now employs over 100 villagers, mostly women to make the Shona Easton handbags, wallets and purses.

And when you help to set up a brand new workplace you get to decide what the rules are and you can create your very own Fashion Revolution

• Absolutely NO child labour

• The work day is 9 to 5.30 (not 16+ hours a day like in some sweatshops)

• Proper wages

• Happy workers who get to go home every evening to be with their families

COMPANY BIO

• Shona Easton is a handbag and accessories designer with over 25 years' experience in the fashion industry in the UK and overseas. She set up her own label in 2002 after she left Next where she was head designer for handbags, jewellery and accessories. Contemporary style and timeless design is the hallmark of the Shona Easton brand - a brand that focuses on stylish, beautifully designed and ethically made handbags.

-ENDS-

For further information contact:

Shona Easton

shona@eastondesignstudio.com

www.eastondesignstudio.com

01403 221886

Notes to editors:

• The Shona Easton label was launched in 2002

• Shona's passion for designing leather goods started very early on in life - aged 10 she set a trend at school when she made dinner money purses for all her friends

• Our mission is to create bold and beautiful bags & accessories that make your friends go ‘wow' when they see them

• Shona Easton handbags and accessories are stocked in independent boutiques throughout the UK and overseas and the whole collection can be ordered online atwww.eastondesignstudio.com