Kei and Molly Textiles LLC is not only a highly successful and growing creative business; their social enterprise model supports refugees and immigrants with training, employment and benefits
“Our business is about creating artisan-quality fabric goods, of course, but we founded it to do more. We founded the company to support our community by creating good jobs.”Kei Tsuzuki, Co-founder, Kei and Molly Textiles LLC
For Kei Tsuzuki and Molly Luethi, giving back to the community was a business priority from the very day they founded their textile printing studio in 2010. United by a shared sense of social justice, they first met at their kids’ school. But their common drive went far beyond the school pick up lane; that drive has landed their textiles in the likes of the Chicago Museum of Art and Jessica Alba’s list of her “Five FavoriteAccessories In The Kitchen.”
Kei and Molly’s business model is unique. It is not just about creating beautiful products or meeting a “bottom line”. They set out to build a true social enterprise thatwould employ refugees and immigrants who call Albuquerque home. Their company now employs six people part-time. Kei explained, “Most often, we work with refugee resettlement programs to find employees who are interested. Some have experience in textiles, but most don’t, so we train everyone.” Employees start at nine or ten dollars an hour and receive reimbursements for health and education each year. Everyone, including the founders, works from 8:30 am to 2:30 pm so they are able to devote time to their families.
Their values-based and mission driven business has not only succeeded, it hass been consistently growing. In 2011, Kei and Molly Textiles LLC moved into a warehouse in the International District (an area where many of their employees also live). Today, it’s a bustling and colorful space, hung with the signature flour sack dish towels that depict everything from bicycling, to bees, to a traditional New Mexican kitchen. These hand-printed dishtowels are now available in over 180 stores nationwide, and their distribution is expanding.
When asked how it is they’ve done it, Kei emphasized how supported both she and Molly have felt by the greater Albuquerque business community, “Things are happening,” she said, “there’s good momentum for entrepreneurs. There’s a really great network of resources for small businesses here.”
CONNECT THE DOTS
COMMONALITIES: Kei and Molly Textiles LLC, which is now six years old, started as a vision and was made real—and real successful—through Kei and Molly’s hard work, through the business support of groups like WESST and through hiring support from groups like Lutheran Family Services, Catholic Charities and the Asian Family Center.
