COVID-19 Safety & Shipping

We hope you and your loved ones are safe during this unprecedented time. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread, we are implementing a series of measures to ensure the health of our staff, artisans, customers and community. 

Ethnotek has always had a nomadic business model and our entire team works remotely. Usually from coworking spaces, cafes and home so it isn't a big strain for us, working 100% from home now. Our partnering artisans in Ghana, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, and Vietnam have always worked from home as well so luckily they also aren't inconvenienced by stay-at-home safety precautions.

And we’re happy to share that our production team in Vietnam have taken the entire month of April off for social distancing and to help home-school their kids while still earning their regular salary.

Our safety measures: 

Thankfully, everyone on our team and their families are healthy and safe and we're fully operational and shipping. Below are the safety measures we're taking at the warehouse to keep our team healthy and to make sure your bags arrive clean and safe after you place your order.

  • All surfaces have been sterilized and all warehouse staff are wearing gloves, masks and washing hands regularly. 
  • Non warehouse staff are not permitted to enter the warehouse area.  We will be implementing a processes to receive and dispatch goods which ensures the vehicle driver has no reason to enter the facility.
  • Visitors to the warehouse are not permitted without prior permission from our warehouse owner.  Permission will only be provided if it can be assured that the person does not pose a threat of spreading the virus to staff members.
  • All inbound goods will be quarantined for a period of 24 hours minimum.  Research indicates that the virus can live on cardboard for up to 24 hours, therefore all inbound items will remain in a holding location for 24 hours.  This includes inbound inventory such as restocks as well as customer returns.
  • Any staff member who personally, or has a member of their immediate family showing symptoms of the virus will be directed to stay away from the warehouse for a period of time until it can be assured that they have not contracted the virus.  Being a small team, this impacts our ability to dispatch orders within our usual timeframes.

      New shipping timelines:

      Due to the precautions we're taking to keep everyone safe (and most postal services are doing the same), shipping time will currently take 3-4 weeks to arrive after placing your order. We're really sorry for this inconvenience and hope it will improve as time goes on. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions, our lines are open!

      To make things a little easier, we're offering FREE SHIPPING to USA on all orders over $150.

      Gratitude:

      We're really grateful to all the customers that have reached out to us to ask how they can help during these times! Some have even offered to buy fabric directly from the artisans, which is a cool idea! Honestly, the most impactful way to continue to support our partnering artisans and to keep our small family business running is to buy bags. Any order that comes our way is extremely helpful and we're forever grateful for the support! We'll get through this together! 

      Keeping it positive:

      Our Founder Jake and his wife & ETK co-owner Cori will be posting videos on Instagram from their home quarantine in Bali to share inspiring and positive stories from the Ethnotek world. Be sure to pop over there to share the fun and good vibes.

      Stay positive, be kind to yourself and others and try to have some fun.

      - the Ethnotek family