Frequently Asked Questions
How does buying this bracelet support refugees?
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A lot of our products are connected to specific causes. For example, our black bracelets help us provide housing kits full of essential items to refugee families newly arrived in the U.S. through our friends at Houston Welcomes Refugees. For the rest of our products, we divide a portion of the proceeds between our remaining partners including UNHCR, Refugee4Refugee, and others!
I support your cause, but I'm anti-leather. Do you have a non-leather option?
- Yes! We offer a 100% vegan non-leather option that can be found here.
Why do these life jackets get discarded?
- Refugees often arrive on land in large groups, often still in fear for their lives, and are immediately escorted away by NGOs and volunteers. Some life jackets are left there as a way to leave their dangerous journey behind them, and some life jackets float to shore from falling in the water.
- These life jackets are often damaged beyond use, and are discarded on the beach with no one to claim them where they end up as unwanted pollution. By collecting them and turning them into bracelets, we're cleaning our beaches and we're preventing the unusable jackets from ending up in a landfill somewhere.
- Our products are actually made from the discarded life jackets that were worn by refugees that have been sent to us from the beaches in Greece where they are discarded.
- We partner with beach cleanup and refugee NGOs overseas to collect the jackets from Greece and send them to us.
- Great question! A refugee is someone who is forced to leave their life behind because of something entirely out of their control. Refugees gain refugee status from governments that acknowledge that it would be deadly for them to stay in their home country, and they are allowed asylum in safer countries. Illegal immigrants are immigrants who move to a new country for reasons that don't qualify them for refugee status, and in doing so, they fail to comply with the entire process of legal repatriation.
- We would love for anyone to donate any amount of money to causes that support refugees! Purchasing from Epimonia also supports refugees through our various product campaigns. We employ refugees to gather life jackets, design our products, and manufacture our bracelets. We also spend money on advertising and social media, which promotes awareness and positive messages about refugees. Every dollar you spend with Epimonia supports refugees.
Why do the refugees come to the US instead of somewhere closer to their home country?
- Many refugees have no choice if they are placed somewhere by an NGO that resettles refugees, and many neighboring countries risk having similar infrastructures that put the refugees' lives in danger. America has always been a safe haven where people could come with the promise of freedom from life threatening discrimination.
What metal are your clasps made of?
- Our clasps are made of italian silver, which is nickel free galvanic!
Do you guys have plans of offering other bracelet sizes?
- What size are you looking for? We are constantly evaluating our inventory and our customer demand to make sure that we have what you guys want.
How do you measure your bracelet length?
- The measurements for each size listed on our product page are the circumference of the inside of the bracelet when it is clasped!
Are there any international fees other than shipping?
Customs fees vary based on the country you are placing the order in.
• International orders may be subject to import fees, customs duties, value added taxes (VAT), etc.
• These costs are NOT included in the shipping costs you pay when you place your order with us.
• These costs are the responsibility of the customer.
• Epimonía cannot provide information about these fees. Please contact your customs office for detailed information.
• If you refuse a package at customs, customs will send it back to us. When they send it back to us, we will only refund you for the product(s) cost if the product is undamaged. We will not refund the cost of shipping the product or having the product shipped back to us.