Fair Trade Clothing?
A new company wholly committed to changing the way the apparel industry works.
We have learned the difference it can make to buy fair trade coffee and chocolate. But what if you don’t buy coffee or chocolate? The one thing that everyone buys is clothing and some very innovative people in this industry are finding ways to achieve fair trade status.
In 2005 four executives from Land’s End left the company to launch Fair Indigo. After scouring the globe for worker groups, factories and cooperatives that were paying workers fairly, they found approximately 20 sites. The workrooms they saw had air-conditioning; workers got sick pay, maternity leave, and employee education, subsidized health care and educational benefits. Most importantly at the core was respect for the workers. \
Every item with the Fair Indigo label is made in a facility that pays fair and meaningful wages, not the minimum wages that dominate the industry. They personally visit each cooperative or factory and get to know the workers who truly are the backbone of the apparel industry. In addition, they send the toughest social auditors in the world to independently verify that these facilities are beacons of fairness in an often ruthless industry.
As in all fair trade, costs are kept low by working directly with the producers whenever possible. The offices of Fair Indigo are simple; the furniture started new elsewhere and there is a minimal advertising budget much is done by word of mouth.
In addition to paying workers fair wages they believe that the best way to help developing countries prosper is through education. As a result, they have established the Fair Indigo Foundation — a not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving educational opportunities in the developing countries where our factories and co-ops are located.
To continue their good work, 5% of the company’s profits go to Fair Indigo Foundation, which is dedicated to improving educational opportunities in the country where the factories are located.
Please check out their website www.fairIndigo.com you will see quality clothing, at a quality price; made by happy workers.