by Zoe Ash
Editor: Zoe Ash is a Junior at Ann Arbor Skyline High School and an intern at The Ann Arbor Independent. She is working on a project called Businesses of Ann Arbor. The photo essay project is a riff on the “Humans of….” websites that have popped up all over the United States, including in Ann Arbor.
Intern Zoe Ash chose to focus on some of the city’s oldest local businesses. Her interviews consist of a single question and then an accompanying photograph.
Suggestions of local businesses to feature are welcome. Please email suggestions to: Editor@A2Indy.com.
Why All or Nothing?
RECENTLY, TRAGEDY hit Nepal when a 7.8 earthquake devastated the struggling nation. Orchid Lane, a small and unique clothing store in downtown Ann Arbor, works closely with residents of Nepal to maintain a fair trade business. This meant the earthquake hit close to home for the Ann Arbor shop’s owners.
Orchid Lane recently spent four days raising money for Nepal, donating 100 percent of the shop’s profits. So when meeting with Leif, a manager of the store, I decided to ask the question “Why all or nothing?”
She responded: “Well, we do so much business in Nepal. We do all our own fair trade importing, meaning I actually travel to Nepal. I work locally with the people there who make the products, and so it really hit home for me. We have a lot of friends there in a lot of the small artist groups. I was actually just there about six weeks before the earthquake working and designing our new woolens line, wool gloves and hats for fall.
“I felt like this was something we could do to help while trying to get the community involved. For four days right after the earthquake hit, we donated all of our profits from the Ann Arbor, East Lansing, and Raleigh locations—all of our stores. I think that people really responded well.”
After our talk, I walked around the store and the vibe certainly matched the kind deed. The shop is filled with bright colors and exotic artwork. Thus, it came as no surprise that the owners would give over all profits for four days in order to help those in much greater need.
Orchid Lane went above and beyond to give life to its goal of establishing fair trade cooperatives around the world.
