Connected Insiders

We’re all about secrets and exclusivity at Connected so we thought what better way to have some Insider Trading knowledge than create a special group!

Just kidding – we are all about transparency and inclusion at Connected.  And the only Insider Trading we are for is Fair Trading.  BUT, we do invite friends who care deeply about Fair Trade to help us sustain in keeping Fair Trade stores in central Kansas by joining the “Connected Insiders” group!  (Shortened to "CI" so we sound extra cool... with an official looking badge:)

Connected Insiders are invited to and included in the following:

• At least three special events in 2018
• Quarterly emails in addition to our monthly email that will share more personal/in depth information of which only the more interested supporters of Fair Trade would care
• Product guidance as we will occasionally ask for opinions about new Fair Trade

The first special event we’ll have for the CIs is in early February.  Perhaps you’ve noticed that we don’t have any sales.  The price is always fair and that’s where it stays even if the product isn’t selling well.  Unfortunately, sometimes we buy things that are too high of a price point for central Kansas or the style is off for us here.  For the first few years, we gave those things to my mom or to us as staff :)  Now, we’d like to offer this pile of good Fair Trade to the CI group in a “Pay What You Wish” style.  Members can simply pay us what they’d like to pay us for these things.  It could literally be a penny. 

In the spring we will have a Traveling Trunk Show with extra clothing options.  The CI members will have special access to the clothing that have lingered from the previous seasons.  Some of these things have only one size remaining… some require a special body type to look becoming (read: a fit body type or the figure to fill out the top part of a dress well:).  These options will be available to members in the same “Pay What You Wish” way as the first special event. 

In the fall we will have a special event to reveal all of the new alpaca offerings for the season.  We’ll serve wine, warm tea and chocolate as we get to feel all of the new soft products from Bolivia and Peru.  On this evening, we will draw for give-aways of the alpaca and hope to have some special, live music gracing the stores.    

We might add another event in the summer, but these are the three that we know for sure that will be specifically for CI members. 

Here’s the biggest thing for us, we’d love to know committed Fair Traders better.  (The people like you who have actually read this long of a post:)  We’d like to have more of a partnership even.  We’ll offer the Fair Trade that is most desired if we know you better so we’ll ask for opinions about product possibilities here and there.  Likewise, we hope you will know more about how you can help us spread the word about our stores.  We want to stay in Lindsborg, Salina and Manhattan so that we can support as many artisans and farmers as possible, but to do so we need to do our jobs better.  We hope people who “get” Fair Trade will help us to evolve.   

If this group sounds like a fit for you, the cost to join is only $20 a year.  You can sign up at the register in all three stores any time throughout the year, but it is obviously better to get in sooner than later.  We will ask for your first and last name, email address and twenty buckeroos (plus tax - sorry!).  It’s as easy as that. 

Thank you for your support of Fair Trade and our store specifically!  If you choose to be a CI or not, we are extremely thankful for you!

w/appreciation – Amy Kay, Carri, Sue, Cindy, Kami, Peggy, Kaylie, Sarhan, Connie, Brooke, Caitlyn, Susan, Bev, Judy, Susi, Deb, Jenell and Kat