A Guide to Supporting Indigenous-Owned Businesses

Indigenous-Owned Businesses

What is an Indigenous/Native owned business? This is a business that is owned by an Indigenous person. To be Indigenous can be nuanced, so we will get to that in a later post!

How to support?

It is important to do research first! There are many businesses who are not actually Native-owned or operated but claim to be. These are often “Native inspired” compared to actually being Native-Made. The difference is in who is designing and/or actually making these items and their intent. The best way to see if a business is Native-owned is to find it on their website or socials or do a quick internet search. When something is “Native inspired” it is often a product that has the likeliness of cultural or stereotypical designs and images to appear “Native.” These products can also take from actual Indigenous designs by renaming them as “Western,” “tribal,” “Aztec,” and is simply a form of cultural appropriation. 

When supporting Native businesses, it is important to understand the distinction between “Native-made” and “Native-inspired.” When you come across real Native businesses, you can then shop great and authentic designs and products! Like with anything else, it is essential to treat these businesses and products with respect. You can learn more about a business from their individual stories, their missions and goals, and their tribal histories. Support them through respect, buying their products, and spreading the word about them!

Native products at PROCESS

There is a wide variety of Native-made products here at PROCESS! We have a Native Food Market, Native made art and jewelry, apparel, home goods, salves, balms, makeup, and more!

Native Food Market Vendors:

• Ioway Bee Farm (Ioway)
• Seka Hills (Yocha Dehe Winton Nation)
• Bedre (Chickasaw Nation)
• Sakari (Inupiaq)
• Red Lake Nation
• Passamaquoddy Wild Blueberry Co. (Passamaquoddy)
• Bodwewadmi (Forest County Potawatomi)
• Pemmican Food Patty (Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians)
• Ramona Farms (O’dham)
• Alma Semillera 
• SIMPLi (Peruvian)
• Navajo Mikes (Diné)
• Whole Harmony (Mohawk)

Non-Food Market Vendors:

• B. Yellowtail (Northern Cheyenne, Crow)
• Beam Paints (M’Chigeeng First Nation)
• Ioway Bee Farm (Ioway)
• Native Northwest (Coast Salish, Musqueam, Kwakwaka'wakw, Ts'msyen)
• Prados Beauty (Xicana, Indigena +more)
• Standing Spruce (Haida)
• Suds and Sage (Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe)
• The Yukon Soaps Company (Northern Tutchoone +more)
• Thunder Voice Hat Co. (Diné, Totonoc)
• Urban Native Era (Lipan Apache)
• Little Hands Hawaii (Kanaka Maoli)
• Cheekbone Beauty Cosmetics (Anishinaabe)
• Haipazaza Pehzuta (Lakota, Dakota)
• Tribal Sun Soaps (Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans)
• The NTVS (Various tribal nations)