Fair Trade

There are essentially three certifying organizations offering labels in the U.S. for separate but occasionally overlapping pieces of the production process. In addition to Fair Trade, the organization Sweatshop Free offers the “No Sweat” label specifically for the cut and sew phase. SKAL handles the “Certified Organic” designation. All have similar objectives, and all have limitations. Could the three be combined into a single label relevant to the apparel industry?

Without a labeling program for apparel, the reality is that companies like Indigenous Designs can’t fully be rewarded in the marketplace for their efforts on behalf of their supply chain partners. That conscious consumer lacks the necessary “actionable information” at the point of purchase.

Pardon me, but is that sweater

Fair Trade?

Fair Trade certification here in the U.S. is associated almost exclusively with coffee, and that certification has helped coffee farmers in developing countries gain direct access to international markets, bypassing predatory middlemen that have traditionally paid farmers a fraction of what their beans were worth in the global marketplace. The certification program has led to higher family living standards, thriving communities and more sustainable farming practices.

But that’s only the half of it. The Fair Trade label also gives the coffee roaster, the coffee house, and other retail outlets here in the U.S. a way to differentiate themselves, and an avenue for conscious consumers to reward them for doing so. The explosive growth in the sale of both Fair Trade coffee and organic foods has a great deal to do with this ability for the consumer to differentiate, and this can be attributed to the high profile, simplicity and clarity of the certification programs.

Could the apparel industry benefit from such a certification program? Could we someday soon see Fair Trade certified garments filling booths at OR? Or perhaps a new label specifically for apparel encompassing organic certification, Fair Trade, and “sweatshop free”?

“We would certainly like to see apparel manufacturers and activists take a look at the viability of trying to apply Fair Trade to apparel,” says Matt Reynolds, COO for Indigenous Designs.

"TransFair USA has no immediate plans to certify Fair Trade garments,” says Christopher Himes, the Director of Certification and Finance at TransFair USA, the third-party certifier for Fair Trade goods in the United States. “Apparel is certainly an industry that could benefit from Fair Trade certification. Its supply chain is very complicated, spread over many countries with weak labor laws or lax enforcement. We have not yet entered this market because we don't have a strong understanding of the industry or the consumer demand for Fair Trade apparel, but we do have some understanding of the social problems and of the potential for Fair Trade to address them."

It’s not that Reynolds doesn’t understand the challenges. “Compared to certifying coffee as Fair Trade, apparel is complicated. They could certify a cut and sew facility as Fair Trade, but going deeper into the vertical supply chain, maybe the mill providing the fabric is not Fair Trade. Going further up the chain, is the cotton organic? Are the farming practices Fair Trade? It doesn’t justify calling a garment Fair Trade if it’s only Fair Trade at the final stage of production. But we also have to recognize that there’s a natural synergy between Fair Trade and organic. It’s not much of an additional step once you become an organic farmer to become Fair Trade certified.”

Roughly seventy percent of organic coffee is also Fair Trade.

“Look at our model,” Reynolds continues. “We’re using organic cotton, we’re paying a premium to the artisans, the flexible hours, artisan ownership, we are building infrastructure for growth, we’re involved in the community, and we’re working with cottage industry. We’ve maintained the Fair Trade aspect of hand looms, hand knitting, and hand finishing. We’ve stayed rock solid in our conviction to provide work and training for the artisans. These are all hot buttons in the Fair Trade sector, and we pass them all with flying colors. The mills we work with, however, are not Fair Trade certified, although many of them have been approved by VERITE and VIATRU (independent “fair labor” auditing organizations). They’re monitored, and they pass the strictest labor standards. We have developed relationships over the years with top quality mills providing the best fibers for our artisans to use. By working with these mills we are able to link the artisan to the mill through Indigenous Designs’ volume and together build a premium product that yields more return to the individual artisan than could otherwise be obtained by any small group of knitters on their own.”

For all the value and benefits Indigenous Design’s commitment to organics and their “modular cottage industry” production model create in the communities where they do business, without some sort of widely recognized third party certification, they aren’t differentiated in the marketplace in the manner that, say, Fair Trade coffee roasters and retailers are.

“I was on the road the other day and stopped into a little neighborhood coffee house, and the first thing I always ask is whether their coffee and tea are organic and Fair Trade,” says Reynolds. “Two minutes later, a woman walks in and asks the same question! I see no reason why that same woman would not be asking for an organic and Fair Trade certified sweater if she had the opportunity. The organic and Fair Trade certification for coffee has given the conscious consumer an easy to understand way to differentiate between an exploitive production paradigm and one that is beneficial for everyone concerned, and that consumer is clearly responding.”

In spite of the challenges, Reynolds believes a Fair Trade-like program is both doable and necessary. “The Labor Rights Organization in the U.S. is having conferences on how to integrate the Fair Trade model into apparel,” he says. “TransFair is watching Europe closely to see what there next move will be. The conversation has begun. We’ll see where it goes from here.”

(Matt Reynolds of Indigenous Designs can be reached at matt@indigenousdesigns.com.)