The whirring of a sewing machine fills the pink bedroom as the sewing needle rapidly punches a seam down a cut-up polo shirt. While Dad may not have wanted it anymore, a young girl envisioned the faded blue cotton as perfect material for the next purse in her collection. One day she aspires to open a store to sell self-designed fashion pieces, but as an eleven-year old, sewing purses, hats and wallets out of fabric scraps and repurposed clothing to sell at the local farmer’s market is business enough. Although the “what I want to be when I grow up” answer, often changes for kids that age, this girl’s dream never died. Over the next years, she would participate in local fashion shows (designing the clothes, of course!), take fashion merchandising and other business classes in high school and college, and learn to appreciate the fashion trends of other cultures through multiple international trips to Europe and Asia.
Today, ten years later, Rosalie Roberts’s goals and ideas may have evolved, but the ambition and drive she inherited from her entrepreneur father have not diminished in the least and her aspirations have only grown bigger. She moved to Hawaii and while working in retail there, Rosalie realized her influence in the fashion industry could be so much more than making and selling clothes. As she learned about the massively negative impact the fashion industry is having on the environment and the widespread disregard for human rights that fast fashion has led to, her lifelong passion to care for people and share God’s love with them was ignited. While Rosalie loves fashion, she can’t stand for the poor ethics, dehumanization of garment workers, wasteful manufacturing practices, pesticide use, and loss of quality in products that today’s fashion industry is fraught with. It’s actually said that it is the second most polluting industry in the world and hundreds of people have died due to the poor working conditions in garment factories across the world. This is unacceptable, and yet most people are unaware and continue to buy clothing and support these companies who are happy to keep people oblivious.
She started her own website, World Changer Co., with the mission of introducing consumers to the great shopping options that bring good to the world instead of harm. The term “fair trade” emphasizes that every worker deserves fair wages, fair treatment, and safe working conditions whether here in the United States or in a distant developing country. There are so many great clothing brands, and also coffee, food, and cosmetic brands out there that are not sacrificing quality or style and at the same time are making a positive difference in the lives of individuals and communities around the world and keeping their environmental impact at a minimum. By getting people excited about these companies that are breaking the mold and diverting their time and money from more irresponsible companies, Rosalie is sharing her passion and multiplying her message that you can change the world for the better. If we care about these problems, we can actually make a huge impact on lives around the world with each purchase we make.
Rosalie still has a lot of room to grow, but her childhood dream lives on. She is working hard to build her online business, keep people informed, and be an influencer in the fashion world, all while gaining experience from opportunities like her internship with Krochet Kids and her connections with other fair fashion brands. She still wants to open a shop someday that sells stylish, fair trade and sustainable clothing from around the world, but her ultimate dream is and will always be to share God's love and care for as many people possible. She says, “If I am accomplishing that through my website you better know I'm living the dream every single day!”