
The Alaffia holiday baskets were uniquely designed and created for the 2008 holiday season. These are Alaffia basket weavers in Blitta, Togo. Gift baskets include the basket, three body care products and a handcrafted ornament and retail for $34.99.
Six months ago, while on the road I received a suggestion from Justin Miloro (Global Associate Whole Body Coordinator) for Alaffia to propose an exclusive Fair Trade gift basket to Whole Foods for the holidays. I remember feeling a little fever at this moment, as my mind went immediately to the Alaffia Basket Cooperative in Togo. I went directly to contact Togo, and a week later we had a prototype basket to present to Justin. Upon his approval, we immediately began weaving the baskets in Togo. We invited 16 women from the Bolga region of Ghana to join the 100 Alaffia basket weavers. After two weeks of production, we realized that even with 116 women, we would not be able to make enough baskets on time since each basket takes an average of three days to complete. Our cooperative director, Limata Gbadamassi made a trip to the northern Ghana Bolga region to meet with more basket coops. For the next three months, more than 350 women worked to complete the gift basket order.




