Manos del Uruguay

Manos del Uruguay carries the hope of women like Sandra. In Fraile Muerto, a village of 3,000 people near the Brazilian border, she has been working for the cooperative for over five years - from 5 am to 1 pm so that she can be there for her family in the afternoons. “I could have gone to the city,” she says, "but then I would have had to leave my family behind. That wasn't an option for me." Manos gave her the opportunity to stay locally and still finance her daughter's studies in Montevideo. When one child gets sick, others take over her shifts - that's how community works.

Since 1968 and as a member of the World Fair Trade Organization since 2009, Manos has been proving that fairness and beauty go hand in hand. Each skein is dyed up to six times by hand - in small pots over a gas or wood fire, only three kilos per batch. The complex color depths are the result of this meticulous dedication, and each dyer signs her skein personally. The finest cashmere, alpaca, mulberry silk and merino wool are used to create unique pieces that dry in the Uruguayan sun. Sandra and her colleagues hope that as many women as possible around the world will knit their yarns - because every stitch connects hearts across continents.