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A Richmond family affair featured at Fair Trade Fair

Andrea Hidalgo is not joking when she says her company Camiro Folklore, a Richmond-based company selling hand-made Latin American crafts and clothing, is family-run.

Andrea Hidalgo is not joking when she says her company Camiro Folklore, a Richmond-based company selling hand-made Latin American crafts and clothing, is family-run.

Originally started by her father Edgar Hidalgo 60 years ago in eastern Canada, he got the idea for the business when people started asking to buy a pair of hand-made rabbit hair slippers that his father made in Ecuador.

The company was eventually sold when he returned to his native Ecuador to pursue Law. Eight years ago, Andrea Hidalgo, her two sisters and her mother moved to Canada and soon after rekindled the company.

I worked at Banana Republic and Fruits & Passion. I wore my own earrings to work and I told stories about making my own jewelry and clothes and my coworkers told me I should open my own business, said Andrea Hidalgo.

Making everything from bracelets and necklaces to purses and jackets, all Camiros (an amalgamation of her and her sisters middle names: Carolina, Michelle and Rosario) wares are hand-made by Andrea Hidalgo and the rest of her immediate and extended family in Canada and Ecuador.

We work with different families we are the base family, she said. Right now one of my cousins does the hammocks, another does sweaters. We always rotate.

She started off by opening a stand at the Richmond Night Market five years ago, and then expanded to online and even establishing a store at Lansdowne Mall that closed down last year due to low mall traffic.

For the third year in a row, Hidalgo will be setting up shop at the annual Fair Trade Fair held Saturday, Dec. 1 at St. Albans Church (7260 St. Albans Rd.) from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., hosted by non-profit organization the Richmond Kairos.

This year, Hidalgo said she will be mainly selling childrens sweaters.

What is Cairo Folklores best selling product?

Crazy hats. We have really long hats, and rooster hats with Mohawks.