Going mobile adds to designer’s appeal

CONNECTION TO CAUSES: Alex and Ani donates 20 percent of sales from its Charity by Design collection to a charity. Staff gather at the company’s Cranston offices to mark fundraising for breast cancer. / Courtesy Alex And Ani
CONNECTION TO CAUSES: Alex and Ani donates 20 percent of sales from its Charity by Design collection to a charity. Staff gather at the company’s Cranston offices to mark fundraising for breast cancer. / Courtesy Alex And Ani

New hires at Cranston-based Alex and Ani Inc. are given tech tools they need to bring the office to them when they join the company.
“The iPhones and laptops allow them to maximize their talent and skill set and the organization benefits from this,” said CEO Giovanni Feroce. “They are extremely impressed we do this.”
The jewelry company, which produces designs by owner Carolyn Rafaelian that emphasize positive energy and other themes, includes a popular line of expandable bracelets and charms.
In addition to letting its employees go mobile, Alex and Ani has built its company on helping the community around it, and given its staff opportunities to give back as well.
With a strong “Made In America” pride, Alex and Ani items are sourced and assembled here. Its products, which are also eco-friendly, offer charitable-giving opportunities to the consumer as well. The result is that employees can feel good about working here, beyond the Employee of the Month $250 gift card rewards and performance bonuses the company offers.
Twenty percent of purchases in the Charity By Design collection go to nonprofits, said Feroce. The pieces are designed to reflect the charity they benefit. For example, some proceeds from the 2012 Because I Am a Girl charm will benefit Plan International USA’s Because I Am a Girl initiative. Feroce said the company aids many different categories of charities.
“It’s a core belief of designer Carolyn Rafaelian that this is how business should be conducted: the more you have, the more you have to give,” he said. &#8226

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