Rachel (right) consulting with Sri Lankan colleagues (Photo Credit: C. Stephen Hurst)
Rachel Weeks has taken what she learned on her Fulbright grant to Sri Lanka and turned it into School House, an ethical, fair trade fashion company based in Sri Lanka specializing in university wear.
Combining her seemingly conflicting passions for fashion and feminism, Rachel studied the fair trade garment industry in Sri Lanka during her Fulbright. While there, she made many connections in the garment industry, including a women’s garment producing cooperative and a seller of defective clothes from multinational fashion companies. These connections inspired Rachel to begin School House. Three universities in North Carolina, including Rachel’s alma mater, Duke University, sell School House’s fair trade, high-fashion university gear, made in Sri Lanka with workers receiving living wages. Rachel envisions a company that cares about the means of production, especially their social and environmental effects, without shunning design or quality.
American Public Media’s The Story interviewed Rachel about establishing her company and her Fulbright experience in Sri Lanka.
To the U.S.-Sri Lanka Fulbright Program