Fair trade promotes the payment of a fair price to farmers, fair labor conditions, direct trade (elimination of middlemen), democratic farming organizations, community development, and environmental sustainability. Transfair provides Fair Trade Certification for cotton in Europe, but this certification is not available in the U.S. for cotton (though it is available for other crops in the U.S.). The Fair Trade Federation is an association of organizations whose members are committed to providing fair wages and good employment opportunities to economically disadvantaged artisans and farmers, but it is not a formal certification. Other fair labor organizations include Ethical Trade Initiative and International Labour Organization. GreenEdge Kids notes any manufacturer that is Certified Fair Trade by Transfair.
It’s easy to forget that someone has sewn on every pocket, every bead, every excruciating detail on a beautiful shirt or pair of pants - when you can buy one of them for under $20. We can find cheap and beautiful clothes in the U.S., and it’s easy not to think much about how it got there when you’re flipping through a clothing rack or looking at displays in stores.
Yet, the people making that cheap and labor-intensive clothing are suffering. Most clothing for sale in the U.S. is produced in sweatshops – factories in places like Vietnam, China and India where labor laws are few and often not enforced. Primarily women and children work excessively long hours, in often toxic environments, for unbelievably low pay.
In October 2007, the Observer (British newspaper) reported child workers, some as young as ten, working in a textile factory in India in filthy conditions close to slavery, to produce clothes for GapKids. The children described working long hours, from dawn to 1 a.m., and then threats and beatings for being tired or not working fast enough. Critics, and certainly Gap, would say this was an exception, but when a shirt is selling for $7 in the U.S., and the farmer, fabric manufacturer, shipping company, and retailer have to be paid, how much do you believe is really going to the person sewing it?
Gap is a member of Ethical Trade Initiative and has shown concern for overseas labor practices, but even as a large company with relatively deep pockets, this recent example of abuse illustrates the difficulty in assuring fair treatment of workers when products are made in countries where labor laws are few and poorly enforced.
Fair trade certification is an indicator of a manufacturer’s commitment to prohibit this type of abuse. GreenEdge Kids has noted companies that are Fair Trade Certified in Shop by Brand descriptions of each brand, as well as in product descriptions. Since fair trade certification is not available for all fabrics or garments in all countries, we have included the term Sweatshop-Free, to indicate manufacturers who promote reasonable labor conditions, and who can exhibit substantial commitment to fair labor. For example, Peau Ethique is not certified fair trade, but is undergoing the application process for membership in a French fair trade organization. GreenEdge Kids’ baseball hats are manufactured in a union factory in the USA.
Where there are products sold by GreenEdge Kids without Fair Trade Certification or Sweatshop-Free designation, we have been assured by the manufacturers that they are operating under fair labor conditions.
GreenEdge Kids is concerned with the fair treatment of clothing workers, and we believe social responsibility goes hand-in-hand with environmental responsibility. We are striving to create transparency for labor conditions among the companies whose products we have chosen to sell, but we recognize there is a great deal of “grey” area when it comes to defining social responsibility. As we continually try to improve our processes for evaluating and presenting information about our manufacturers, we appreciate your suggestions and comments.
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