Meet the women

Mallory Martin

HerStory

Mended is a social impact brand that economically empowers survivors of modern-day slavery and connects their stories to globally-conscious consumers. 

Our vision is to reduce the vulnerability of more and more survivors of modern-day slavery each year through the production and sales of high-quality and beautiful home goods products made by the survivors.

The Origin

In the fall of 2019, I took my first trip to the beautiful region of South Asia.

At the time, I was working with an international non-profit and we were taking a group of supporters to see the work being done to rescue and restore victims of modern-day slavery.

Years of telling their redemptive survivor stories could not have prepared me for meeting these individuals face to face. 

They are parents who want to provide for children. They want to keep them safe. They want to put food on the table. They want to send their kids to school. These survivors have been rescued from horrific violence and are now living in freedom!

What they shared was that their journey to find sustainable and consistent employment is long, hard and often impossible.

Each woman, each family had their unique story & their circumstances...

But all had the same BOLDNESS PERSISTENCE to overcome the violence they had endured.

In the Spring of 2020,

As the COVID-19 pandemic was sweeping the globe, I heard about a small group of survivors whom I had met who were sewing masks for their community members.

They were facing economic challenges and needed stable livelihoods to care for their families.

On a whim, my husband and I decided to buy their masks to give our family and friends and to see if a cross-globe project with the survivors was feasible.

After successfully receiving 1,000 beautiful masks, I knew there was more to be done. I wanted to believe there was a way to share the story of these survivors with those of us on our side of the globe who may not know.

There had to be a way to play a role in their restoration by providing sustainable work.

On September 1st, 2020, I learned about the textile printing technique called block printing and the idea for Mended was born. Mended, a for-profit LLC, was founded out of a desire to play a role in filling the economic empowerment hole that exists for survivors in South Asia.