It took a year’s worth of what he describes as “blood, sweat and Red Bull,” but Brandon Burns has finally realized his vision that is Wander&Trade, which the ad creative-turned-entrepreneur claims is “the first marketplace for local products from around the world.” We can’t determine how accurate that is, but regardless, W&T is essentially a one-stop shop that includes everything from clothing and condiments to accessories and home goods from local indie vendors in cities such as Brooklyn, Portland, San Francisco and London.
According to Burns, whose ad career included creative stints at the likes of R/GA, Leo Burnett, MRM/McCann and BBDO/Proximity China, supporting local operations “means putting profits back into their communities to pay skilled humans to make more quality products, not into the hands of big corporations to make more machine-made crap.” From what we’ve been told, Wander&Trade is expanding into New England next week and will offer up some products from Africa within days while Chinese and South American goods should be available in time for holiday shopping (Burns adds that there’s currently a waiting list of 80+ vendors). For those of you who are in a shopping mood (and just because we love you), type in the code AGENCYSPY at checkout for $10 off an order of $75 or more. It’ll be valid until EOD tomorrow.