Our Story

Our job creation efforts began in 2012 with Ila Joi - formerly our artisan program. The vision for the program was born out of a desire to prevent mothers from having to relinquish their children due to an inability to financially care for them. By providing employment to these mothers, we were reducing the number of “poverty orphans” in Haiti. The artisan program is focused on making jewelry, Christmas ornaments and other products out of recycled and rolled up paper.

In 2015 we made the decision to expand the program to include sewing, providing more opportunities for mothers. The brand, Zel Haiti was created for our sewing team in 2016 when we launched our very first line of medical scrubs. In 2019, we launched our first line of yoga mat bags.

In 2020, we made the choice to combine the two programs under the one brand: Zel Haiti. Zel Haiti employs 4 artisans, 9 seamstresses, a sewing machine technician and a cleaner. We are constantly working to design and create beautiful new products for our website!