Arrow Fat Left Icon Arrow Fat Right Icon Arrow Right Icon Cart Icon Close Circle Icon Expand Arrows Icon Facebook Icon Instagram Icon Pinterest Icon Hamburger Icon Information Icon Down Arrow Icon Mail Icon Mini Cart Icon Person Icon Ruler Icon Search Icon Shirt Icon Triangle Icon Bag Icon Play Video

~ GAIA Goodness ~

What to Wear on Summer Weekends Away

Summer is in full swing, and we’re eagerly packing our bags for some long weekends away.

Where are we going? What will we wear? We’re so glad you asked!

We cruised Forbes’ list of top travel destinations for 2018 to choose our not-so-far-away destinations and then paired them with GAIA tops and accessories and bottoms and shoes from our friends at Cabana. Every beautiful GAIA item is handmade by a refugee artisan rebuilding her life in Dallas, Texas (a great place to visit, by the way).

Check out these gorgeous U.S. spots and the outfits to match.

Asheville, North Carolina

We’ll breathe more deeply and rest more soundly when we nestle into nature in the Blue Ridge Mountains. We’ll at least drop by the Biltmore Estate, even if we don’t get to stay there.

Top + Earrings + Bag + Bottom + Shoes

Detroit, Michigan

The idea of Motor City and the birthplace of Motown really gets our motor running. It’s a city seeing a revival — and you know we love a good starting-over story. Top of our list: a ride on the Q-Line streetcar.

Top + Earrings + Bag + Necklaces + Bottom + Shoes

New Orleans, Louisiana

The Big Easy can get a bit sweaty in the summer months, but we don’t mind. Hotels and restaurants are plenty air conditioned, and if we really need to cool things off, we’ll grab a frozen daiquiri.

Top + Earrings + BagNecklace + Bottom + Shoes

Palm Beach County, Florida

As if miles of sandy white beaches weren’t enough, Palm Beach County is more than fun in the sun. We’re hitting Delray Beach for its incredible Japanese gardens and the must-see costume museum in Boca Raton.

Top + Earrings + Bag + Bottom + Shoes

San Juan, Puerto Rico

The U.S. territory still needs our help after last year’s hurricane. One way to give back is to go stay. We’ll book a room, make some dinner reservations, and plan daytrips to rainforests and rum castles.

Top + Earrings + Bag + Necklace + Bottom + Shoes

Curious about the refugee artisans who create our tops and accessories? Get to know them here.

Continue reading

Lots of New #GAIAgoodness for Fall!

Crunchy leaves, football games, sweater knits, and holiday prep are a few things we love about fall. We also love that we get to show off what we’ve been working on all summer. Have a look at the cozy fabrics, rich colors, and updated shapes that are new from GAIA this season.

New Ring Tote

It’s a tote! It’s a clutch! It’s a cross-body! With both a wrist ring, a long chain, and a design meant for folding, our newest bag is a triple threat. Our favorite styles are made of colorful silk velvet ikat textiles hand-dyed and hand-loomed by artisans in Uzbekistan. All are handcrafted in Dallas by our own refugee artisans and lined with Perennials fabrics (stay tuned for news about our partnership with Dallas-based Perennials). 

 

Bonus: We’ve also got a few new Cha Cha bags in the silk velvet ikat.

Updated Roundie

Honey, we shrunk the Roundie! This GAIA favorite has been updated with a smaller body and a shorter, chunkier tassel. We constructed the range of styles for fall from vintage fabrics from Thailand and Africa, French jacquards, leathers, suedes, and more. The Roundie comes with or without a long chain — and now with or without a wrist ring. 

Limited-Edition Pompom-Tassel Earrings

The first releases of this new earring style are four limited-edition designs using Perennials pompoms. We paired the poms with African and Ethiopian accent beads for added interest and texture. Once these are gone (yikes, one’s already sold out!), they’re gone forever, but we do have plans for other color combinations with GAIA’s own refugee-crafted pompoms. 

New Celeste Earrings

It was time for a refresh on our Celeste earrings, which were introduced early this year, so we created four new color combos — navy on gold, blue on pink, peach on wheat, and white on white. These beauties are all made with repurposed textiles and edged with gold beads. 

Updated a la Carte Tassels

There are two varieties of the latest clip-on tassel designs. The first is five tiers of poms and cotton tassels layered with brass, bone, and wood beads. The other is a chunky suede tassel in four colors: rose, olive, butter, and electric blue. All have brass hardware and look cute clipped on any of our bags, any of your bags, a key ring, and more. 

New Key Ring

Speaking of key rings, meet the latest GAIA version, featuring our favorite brass wrist ring  and tassels handmade by Feza. The are 4 tassel color combos, and each one coordinates beautifully with our small and large pouches.  Grab and go!

Shop the full range of GAIA accessories now.

Continue reading

Spring Into Summer With Our New Collection

GAIA Spring/Summer 2017

The last six months have been super busy for us! We worked day and night to get our J.Crew order ready, hiring and training refugee artisan apprentices, sourcing materials, and performing hours upon hours of quality control. It was a lot! 

At the same time, we were designing and sourcing our spring/summer 2017 line. (We wish we could say it’s the kind of thing we do a year in advance, but we're not quite that sophisticated). We released our new goodies to the site as they’ve been ready, but we are finally ready to reveal the entire collection!  Drum roll....

What can you expect from GAIA this season? For our bags: five new fabrics for Pom Pom bags and large and small pouches, colored leathers, an assortment of grosgrain ribbon trim, new combos with familiar fabrics, upgraded zippers, gold-plated GAIA medallions, and an all-new gold ring handle on our Cha Cha bag. We’ve also got a new swoon-worthy style of tassel earring we think you’re going to love, as well as new color combos for beaded necklaces and Mini Kitty purses. 

And so — without further ado — the GAIA spring/summer collection!

GAIA Spring/Summer 2017

With this collection we refined our designs and focused on scaling a bit. That meant finding a fabric source that would allow for deeper inventory than vintage fabrics do. Paula traveled to a textile show in New York City earlier this year and brought back five heritage fabrics. All bright, happy jacquards with a contemporary look and feel, they are produced by a ninth-generation French textile mill. We paired the fabrics with colored leathers and striped grosgrain ribbon trim for a modern-preppy look that can be worn for a range of occasions day and night. The designs are unlike anything you’ve seen from us in seasons past, and we’re really pleased with them.

GAIA Spring/Summer 2017

There are five color combinations of large pouches and four combos of small pouches using the new fabrics and ribbon.



GAIA Spring/Summer 2017

There are three color combos of Pom Pom bags with the new fabrics.

GAIA Spring/Summer 2017

The new tassel earring successfully takes the existing capabilities of our refugee artisans and employs a new shape. We sandwiched a single tassel between two ovals for a look that’s a little less casual than the sunburst tassel earring but is still colorful and fun. There are four color combinations of the new single-tassel earring.



We updated the Cha Cha in eight color combos and added a brushed brass ring handle crafted by artisans in India. We are OBSESSED. And it gets better:  Each bag still comes with the option of a chain strap so it can be worn 'hands-free' as needed. It's our new fave, hands-down!


GAIA Spring/Summer 2017

Colette and Sea Foam are the latest additions to the popular range of beaded necklaces. Opposites in some ways, they are both a neutral navy and white and they look great worn as a pair.

GAIA Spring/Summer 2017

Two cute new kittens joined the Mini Kitty litter for spring/summer. Dinah is made from hot pink ikat-style fabric with poms of lavender, orange, and green-gold. Tibbs is a purple and white checkered fabric with poms of peach, green, and hot pink. We think they are purr-fect.

Shop the entire GAIA spring/summer collection now. 

Continue reading

The Right Mother's Day Gift for Every Mom

Mother’s Day is around the corner, and you know what that means: time to find something pretty for your sweet momma. And GAIA's got all the moms covered.

Handmade products that support refugee women rebuilding their lives through meaningful work ring true with every type of mom — from crunchy do-gooder to corporate maven. Your mom is sure to take one look at the gift you give and know that she raised you right!

To make it easy on you, here are our recommendations for four types of moms, as well as a few of our favorite parenting books, since substance is just as important as style.

Earth Mother

Not only do her GAIA goodies help her go green, but they gather her granola and paraben-free lip balm so she can focus on composting and tree-hugging. Jessica Teich's Trees Make the Best Mobiles reminds moms to focus on being in the moment with their children and that kids don't need a bunch of "stuff."

 

GAIA Mother's Day Gifts

Posh Mom

Never without her shades or Chanel — or her chic GAIA purses to pull it all together. Meanwhile, Simplicity Parenting, by Kim John Payne, keeps her grounded, showing her that sometimes less really is more — especially when it comes to raising kids.

 

GAIA Mother's Day Gifts

Mom Boss

She just poured herself another cup of ambition. GAIA pouches help a Type A momma stay organized so she can lean in in style. And because she knows that today's leaders are responsible for growing the leaders of tomorrow, she'll be excited to read Nina Tassler's collection of advice from powerful moms to the next generation of women, What I Told My Daughter.

 

GAIA Mother's Day Gifts

Sporty Mom

You can find her in the club — the country club, that is. GAIA bags hold her tees on the links and keep her cool by the pool, where you might find her reading Love Lives Here, Maria Goff's book on living a life driven by meaning, intention, and even whimsy.

Shop for your mom now!

Continue reading

GAIA + Spring Break: 7 Perfect Travel Pairings

Spring break is in full swing in some parts of the country. In others, people are just packing up. To help you plan your vacation wardrobe, we (and a few of our fans) pair popular travel destinations with GAIA goods, handmade by refugee women who are rebuilding their lives in the United States.

GAIA Pom Pom Bag

Glamping in Marfa, Texas

The funky desert town of Marfa, Texas, is one of our personal favorite destinations. J.Crew’s Jenna Lyons spends time there each September, and in this month’s issue of Conde Nast Traveler, she shares with readers that on her most recent trip to this magical spot, she packed the GAIA Pom Pom bag we designed especially for J.Crew (available mid-April).

GAIA Tassel Necklace

Sightseeing in Pensacola, Florida

Julia Ussery, a boutique owner in the Florida beach town of Pensacola, pulled together a spring nautical look for Southern Living that incorporates our Cleo tassel necklace. Yes, the city has sand and surf, but it’s also a naval base. This casual yet polished outfit nods to that fact — and it’s perfect for an afternoon stroll downtown and the Museum of Art. 

GAIA Pom Pom Bag

Soaking in Sun in Cabo, Mexico

Something Beachy blogger Kelsey White shows us just how sexy a Pom Pom pouch can be when she hits the popular Mexico resort town of Cabo San Lucas wearing one of our bags made of African mud cloth with a shoulder-baring white dress. Her vacation picks appear this month on the fashion site Foray

GAIA Roundie Bag

Après-Ski in Beaver Creek, Colorado

Half the fun of going skiing is getting dressed to go skiing. The same goes for after the slopes. When you’ve had all the downhill you can take for one day and are ready to hit the town for snacks and shopping, round out the fashion scene with our Roundie (see what we did there?).

GAIA Tassel Earrings

Touring in Washington, D.C.

Part of our team recently visited the nation’s capital, which is a popular spring break destination. (Education doesn’t have to stop just because school’s not in session.) Travel light when touring important historical monuments and museums and accessorize with our Sunburst tassel earrings. Their playful style is a much-needed reminder to smile in a city that sometimes takes itself too seriously.

GAIA Cha Cha Bag

Shopping in Santa Monica, California

On the other side of the country, there’s quite the opposite sentiment. Our friends who live on the West Coast tell us it’s a bit like a permanent vacation. If spring break finds you in La La Land, there’s just one thing to do — OK, there are literally a million things to do, but hang with us — and that’s take our Cha Cha to the iconic Santa Monica Pier after an afternoon of retail therapy.

GAIA Crescent Clutch

Finding Bliss in Scottsdale, Arizona

The Wild West, as it turns out, is the ideal place to cultivate calm. Scottsdale, Arizona, is brimming with spa experiences designed to take you away from it all. Spend your days unwinding and refreshing with facials, massages, and more, and then venture out on the town for some serious eats with a GAIA Crescent clutch.

Marfa image by Paul Joseph via Creative Commons

Continue reading