TENCEL™, Lenzing's eco-responsible and botanic origin fiber brand for home and apparel industries, initiates a project for good with Multi-Purpose Community Centers (ÇATOM) for March 8, International Women's Day in Turkey. Within the project "Touching women’s labor with TENCEL™", hand-made tote bags by women at ÇATOM center in Mardin, Turkey will be offered for sale on the website of MUDO brand, one of the supporters of the project, on March 8. The income from the sale of the bags will be donated to the GAP Association for Women and Children, a subsidiary of Mardin ÇATOM center.

With the TENCEL™ brand, Lenzing continues to develop innovative projects to leave a more livable world to future generations and initiates a project for good on March 8, International Women's Day. The project "Touching women’s labor with TENCEL™" is launched in cooperation with ÇATOM established to employ women, integrate them into society and solve their problems. For a more sustainable and gender-equal world, hand-made tote bags are produced by women at ÇATOM center in Mardin, Turkey. Orta Anadolu denim mill is one of the supporters of the project supplied the fabrics for the bags whereas the MUDO brand will sell the hand-made bags by women on its online store on March 8, International Women's Day. The income from the sales of the bags will be donated to the GAP Association for Women and Children, a subsidiary of Mardin ÇATOM center.

Everyone can support the project

The bags made at Mardin ÇATOM center, which has supported more than 20 thousand women and children since 2009 so far, will meet their grantors on MUDO's website on March 8, International Women's Day. The theme of the hand-made bags by women on the occasion of March 8 will also be women. A women's hand figure and TENCEL™ logo’s iconic leaf will embellish hand-made bags containing TENCEL™ branded lyocell fibers. At the same time, social media users will be able to support the project by sharing it with the tag #TENCEL #KadınEmegineDokunus (#TouchingWomenLabor)

"Fighting together against gender inequality"

Bengi Ergon Kaya, Regional Marketing Manager of Lenzing Turkey & Africa & CIS Region says she is proud to be part of such a meaningful project that features women's labor on International Women's Day. "The United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals have always been guiding principles for Lenzing's sustainability goals. “Touching women’s labor with TENCEL™” is one of the projects we launched for this purpose. ÇATOM centers have focused on social gender equality and contributed to society with their efforts for long years, so we are also very proud to cooperate with them. We will continue to support the empowerment of women and girls and reduce gender inequality through such collaborations and projects."

“We create awareness”

“We are very happy to have initiated such a meaningful partnership with TENCEL™. It is one of our priorities to contribute to equality of opportunity by empowering women. Through our activities in this field, we both raise awareness and support participatory community development. I believe that with the project ‘Touching women’s labor with TENCEL™’ we will also create an important awareness on a significant day such as March 8,” says Adalet Budak Akbas, General Coordinator for Human and Social Development, GAP Regional Development Administration about this cooperation.

For a sustainable future

The project “Touching women's labor with TENCEL™” is developed in line with the Sustainable Development Goals, also known as Global Goals, a universal call for action to ensure that all people live in peace and prosperity. This project aims to serve the fifth goal, gender equality, by empowering all women and girls and eliminating all kinds of discrimination against them.

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About ÇATOM

The Multi-Purpose Community Centers (ÇATOM) project has been implemented by the GAP Administration since 1995. The project aims to develop models to create equal opportunities for women, enable women to make more use of public services, increase women's employment and entrepreneurship, and create participatory community development by empowering women. A wide range of programs from education to health, skill-building programs to social and cultural programs are organized by 48 ÇATOM centers in many areas in the region. To date, a total of more than 530 thousand people have been reached through these programs, and more than 1.6 million people through other events and services.