Fair Indigo
Photo by Fair Indigo
Four former Land’s End execs have launched Fair Indigo, a fair-trade apparel company with the marketing tagline “style with a conscience.” According to the company, it sources from worker-owned cooperatives and family-owned factories, which “share [its] values,” in countries such as China, Peru, Brazil, Indonesia, and Nepal; the company declines to reveal the names of the factories, however. (The mega names in apparel, such as Levi Strauss, Gap, and Nike, made the identities of their suppliers public, after facing flak from human-rights groups such as the National Labor Committee.) As far as I can tell, its only U.S.-made merchandise is its rather delectable-sounding Queen B bath products, which are handmade by women in New Orleans, many of whom are single mothers.
Based in Madison, Wisconsin, Fair Indigo also claims it uses a third-party independent auditor who conducts “scheduled and surprise visits,” reviewing payroll records, interviewing employees, and examining health and safety conditions. Also, Fair Indigo says it is working with TransFair USA , which is the only fair-trade certifier in the U.S.
Although Fair Indigo says it is currently developing a line of organic and eco-friendly apparel, its main focus is on the wages of the workers; it is also working to incorporate fair-trade cotton (dropping the caveat that it is only certified in Europe).
From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “Firm hangs hat on fair trade.”
The catalog has 800 styles for men and women, including apparel, shoes, handbags and jewelry, plus fair trade coffee1, tea and beauty products. Prices range from $13 for a pack of socks to $425 for a leather handbag, but most of the apparel is priced in a similar range as Lands’ End.
The catalog itself has echoes of Lands’ End, with substantial product description and extensive narrative and photo coverage of the factories and workers who make the clothing. Styles are aimed at people between ages 30 and 55, and what they might wear to work, Bass said.
The founders spent 18 months preparing for the launch, which started with an idea from Behnke for a fair trade store in Madison. Behnke thought it would be a winner, based on the growing sales of fair trade coffee.
“Don and I said, ‘This is a much better idea than just a store in Madison,’ ” Bass said, noting the interest in buying fair trade items among socially conscious consumers.
One of the biggest challenges in making a fair trade claim for apparel, however, is the fact that unlike coffee and some other food products, there is no certification standard for clothing.2 The Web site for the certification agency for food fair trade products is www.transfairusa .org.
The standard that large manufacturers and retailers use to avoid charges of sweatshop labor is to ensure that factories where their clothes are made obey local minimum wage and other labor laws, and do not use child labor. But the problem with minimum wage laws in Third World countries is that minimums are very low, said Charles Kernaghan, head of the National Labor Committee, the anti-sweatshop group that initiated protests against Kohl’s department stores in the late 1990s and against Kathie Lee Gifford and Wal-Mart before that.
(Emphasis is mine.)
1Its supplier is Just Coffee in Madison, Wisconsin.
2 Although stores that sell fair-trade apparel may be members of the Fair Trade Federation or registered as a fair-trade organization.
Chelee said,
September 20, 2006 at 1:23 pm
I’m all for fair trade but get skeptical when it involves any source of big business. Thanks for the update.
Just found your blog, it’s great!
Off to read the archives…
Bonnie Hubbard said,
September 25, 2006 at 10:07 pm
As a long-time Lands End customer, I have been quite disappointed in their
clothing which I think has to do with joining up with Sears AND relying almost
totally on 3d world manufacturers. If this new company is the baby of former
Lands End execs, I am most skeptical. Please provide encouragement.
another skeptic said,
October 19, 2006 at 2:35 pm
this isn’t fair trade, this is a marketing ploy.
transparency? said,
October 19, 2006 at 2:37 pm
they don’t even tell people where the clothes are made, it’s an industrial secret.
patricia said,
December 3, 2006 at 8:47 pm
Judging from their catalog, which I just received, almost all their clothing comes from China. Only a tiny, tiny number of things are made elsewhere. Although they name the cities where the items are made, I can’t but wonder, why not name the factories? They should be proud to, shouldn’t they?
Kendall said,
February 22, 2007 at 7:49 pm
I think it’s worth reviewing the information in your blog to acknowledge that Fair Indigo does NOT claim to be working with Transfair USA (the only fair trade certifier) because Transfair does not yet certify apparel.
I’m also suprised at some of the comments left on this page that support fair trade, but dislike it being done on a mass scale. If fair trade is ever going to become a large part of the clothing market, it needs to be possible on a large scale.
Michaela said,
February 27, 2007 at 9:38 pm
What a bunch of skeptics! The founders of this company are clearly trying to change the way the mainstream apparel industry works. I applaud them for making a dent and I don’t think it’s just a marketing ploy.
A. Binney said,
March 19, 2007 at 5:00 pm
Regarding where some of their clothes are made, some of them are listed on their website at: http://www.fairindigo.com/about/factory_stories.html.
A lot of it IS China, but there’s a fair amount of Costa Rica and Peru as well, at least in the 14 profiles listed.
I shop for green and fair trade clothes at the Green Festivals, but you can’t always try on the clothes and there are an awful lot of hippy clothes out there- I’d love to see some stylish, not insanely expensive, clothes that fit a 5″2 woman who’s not in her 20s.