Green Cotton

While October was officially Fair Trade month, Jute and Jackfruit is continuing to celebrate the cause by hosting an upcoming event that brings together several fair trade companies to delight and inform guests in the Cambridge area. On November 9th, they will host an eco-fashion and Fair Trade event in Cambridge, MA.

Jute and Jackfruit raises awareness on the importance of organic, fair trade and sustainable issues by delivering positive, simple messages about greening and making more ethical our every day lives.

At this upcoming event in Kendall Square, Jute and Jackfruit will present their latest ethical and sustainable clothing collections (including Indigenous Designs, Kelly Lane, Feral Childe and Rebe) as well as provide participants an opportunity to learn more about what it means to be fair trade and organic. Two other fair trade companies will be present to offer their perspectives as well, including free samples of their delicious products.

The participating Fair Trade companies include Dean’s Beans and Theo Chocolate. Each will demonstrate the quality of the products, discuss the ways in which they are fair trade, how they select their farms and more. Free samples of each product will of course also be available.

Dean’s Beans Organic Coffee Company is a 100% Fair Trade and Organic coffee and cocoa processor and wholesale distributor in Orange, Massachusetts, USA. Since 1993, Dean’s Beans has modeled how business can be a vehicle for positive social change while being profitable at the same time. Besides paying above fair prices for all of its coffee and cocoa, Dean’s Beans works directly with the grower communities to address needed social, economic and environmental concerns prioritized by the farmers (largely made up of indigenous peoples working hard to maintain their culture and lifestyles).

Dean’s Beans provides people-centered development design and funding for the communities in such areas as education, clean water and alternative income generation. The company’s business practices have been recognized by the United Nations and the Specialty Coffee Association of America.

How does Dean’s Beans make the difference?

Dean’s Beans promotes local empowerment and self-reliance through their Fair Trade purchases and their work with local grassroots development and human rights groups. The company also sponsors projects here at home with disenfranchised communities such as Native Americans, the homeless and disabled, and many other groups trying to improve their lives and that of their communities. Every cup you drink and every pound you buy contributes directly to the welfare of coffee growers and consumers.

Each player in the cycle of production and distribution, from the farmer to the consumer, participates in socially just and environmentally responsible trade. Each coffee batch they roast also comes from a unique place and society. For example, Dean’s Beans offers the first certified Organic Fair Trade coffee from Brazil. The grower’s cooperative, Association of Small Producers of Poco Fundo, is an amazing, dynamic group of farmers that has been working since 1985 to gain international accreditation for their work in organics and to be accepted on the fair trade registry. The group’s mission is to improve the social, economic and ecological conditions of the families of Poco Fundo, a small municipality of 15,000 people, located in the southern part of the state of Minas Gerais. This has required an amazing commitment of time, energy and money on the farmer’s part.

Moreover, Dean’s Beans is thankful for being a founding member of Cooperative Coffees, the first roaster’s cooperative created to buy direct, Fair Trade coffee from farmer coops, and make it available to any small roaster who wants to participate in the Fair Trade movement. They are also active members of the Fair Trade Federation, an international organization of dedicated Fair Traders.

Located in Seattle, Washington, Theo Chocolate Company is the first and currently the only organic, Fair Trade Certified roaster of cacao in the United States, sourcing cacao from small farmers in the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Panama, Ghana, Madagascar, Venezuela, and the Ivory Coast. Theo’s small team is guided by a passion for chocolate, care for the environment, and dedication to enriching the lives of everyone involved, including cacao farmers and chocolate lovers.

The founder, Joseph Whinney, pioneered the supply of organic cocoa beans into the United States in 1994.
As true chocolate makers, Theo Chocolate takes carefully selected cacao from bean to bar in their own factory, roasting, blending and conching to coax out the distinctive flavor imparted by each growing region. The result is superb artisinally made chocolate with real integrity. Whether you enjoy the 3400 Phinney line of chocolate bars, each “kicked up” with something extra, or prefer the pure cacao interpretations of single-origin and blended Theo chocolate bars, you’ll surely find a very enjoyable tasting experience.

In addition to being ethically-driven, all-natural, and public-friendly, Theo’s offers deliciously inventive chocolate. Classic flavors include orange, mint, cherry-almond, and chili; whereas Theo’s fantasy flavors include Coconut Curry , Coffee and Vanilla, Nib Brittle and Fig Fennel Almond. There’s also the 3400 Phinney Bar (named after the factory address in Fremont), which is milk chocolate liquor mixed with toasted and salted bread bits sourced from a local bakery.

Jute and Jackfruit will be showcasing their fair trade and organic Indigenous Designs collection as well as elements of their Kelly Lane and feral childe collections at the event. All clothing is made from organic and sustainable fabrics, handcrafted, and ethically made. They will also present several of their recycled handbag collections such as Escama Studios, recycled soda pull tab bags and recycled candy wrapper bags.

If you would like to join in on this event in Cambridge, MA email customerservice[at]juteandjackfruit.com to get on the guest list. The event is free. For more information you may also call 781-859-5232

Autonomie Project is a relatively new Fair trade, eco-friendly, and vegan fashion company based out of Boston, Massachussetts (USA).

The company began in 2007 when group of friends came together in their frustration with the fashion and footwear industries due to their lack of transparency, use of sweatshops and harmful chemicals.

Autonomie’s mission is to supply high-quality, stylish garments to ethically conscious consumers. Autonomie caters to the shopper who wants to align their personal style with their values. Autonomie makes this possible by providing a range of fashion options that all have a positive social impact on the environment, while raising awareness about today’s most pressing global issues. To Autonomie Project, the most effective solution to reducing sweatshops and child labor abuses is to create their own production ecology with reliable, transparent and supportive working conditions and operations. And that is what they did. Autonomie didnt just want to “do no harm”, they wanted to take things a step further by benefiting the communities who make their clothes, and helping to break the cycle of poverty. Toward this end, Autonomie Project:

- AP provides their workers with a fair wage so they can beat out sweatshops and enjoy a healthy, sustainable lifestyle.

-  AP works exclusively with small, independent cooperatives and Fair Trade-certified facilities located in developing areas of the world where they can allot a portion of our funds to be used for initiatives that will uplift their entire community, such as building a health clinic or bringing a steady water supply to a small village.

Autonomie Project currently produces shoes, flip flops, hand bags, t-shirts, winter hats and accessories. In terms of materials, they use organic cotton, all natural FSC (Forest Certified Council) rubber, and other eco-friendly & locally-sourced materials.

The AP apparel does not end there however, their T-shirts are also 100% organic cotton, very comfortable, and stylish.  The cotton is ring-spun and combed for extra softness and colored with eco-friendly dyes.

The tee featured above is the “Fight Global Poverty / Warming” design in light blue ink on charcoal so that you can declare to the world where your eco priorities are at. Made right here in the USA.

Autonomie Project’s bag collection is hand made by a women’s knitting cooperative in rural Peru. The newest styles are made with 100% Fair Trade-certified organic cotton yarns that are naturally dyed.

The incredibly soft yarns used for the bags hail from a Fair Trade facility in Lima and are processed using completely natural and traditional methods. No dyes, chemicals or other synthetic processes have been used to grow, soften, or color the fibers. By buying a bag, you help the 25 mothers of Northern Creations grow a sustainable business and improve the standard of living for their families and community.

Autonomie Project works with small, independent cooperatives and Fair Trade certified facilities located in developing areas of the world including Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Peru, and the USA. The products are relevant and fashionable, vegan , eco, and always sweatshop-free.

Since we wrote about the Fair Trade the Whitehouse initiative last week, Autonomie Project is also a supporter of that campaign (no surprise!). Check out that initiative and become a part of it, if you have not already.

There are several cool things going on at the Autonomie Project site worth checking out:

- Buy Fair Trade: First, if you are in the mood to shop or have a gift in mind for someone, check out their stylish, high-quality Fair Trade items.
- Blog: Autonomie runs a blog and encourages other to blog about them too. Get involved.
- Affiliates Program: If you are a company or non-profit you can also sign up as an AP Affiliate and get customized banner links that will earn you a commission on any sales brought in from your online outreach efforts.

Check them out!

By: Julie Finkel and Shana Yansen

Created in 2005, Pants to Poverty emerged as a result of the Make Poverty History phenomenon. Its mission is to make fair-trade and pesticide free cotton underwear, at half the price of competitors, while working with over 7,000 cotton farmers.

For 4 years now, Pants to poverty (P-to-P) has gained momentum. P-to-P developed a ethical and  transparent supply chain and a new type of underwear brand, while establishing a network of 70 independent shops and over 10,000 people in 16 countries around the world. Pants to Poverty has also recruited some of the world’s leading legal, branding and development organizations as its partners and achieved wide-reaching media coverage in National Newspapers, TV, Magazines, local papers and radio stations.

The underwear is made in India, using fair-trade certified and pesticide free cotton. However it’s not just the farms that are certified, but also the entire manufacturing process.

The supplier in India is called Pratibha Syntex in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, and apparently Patribha maintains close control over every process of the production of the pants. They work exceptionally closely with the farmers to ensure that we meet our objectives as having the most ethical, and transparent, supply chain possible.

Where does the cotton come from? The cotton from Pants to Poverty comes from the world’s first farmer owned marketing company for fair-trade and organic cotton, Zameen Organic. Based in Hyderabad in India, Zameen will soon be majority owned by the 6,700 of India’s poorest farmers, most of whom are in the Vidarbha region– an area where on average 26 farmers commit suicide every day due to unfair trade.

Zameen means that in exchange for their hard work on their own land, the farmers get:
-    A guaranteed fair, market price for their cotton.
-    Fair-trade and organic premiums
-    Organizational and agricultural support to establish their own co-operatives, bank accounts and maximize the impact of their organic farming.
-    A clean, chemical free environment to live in
In addition to this, Pants to Poverty is now donating an extra 50p per pair to fund the establishment of the world’s first source of child labour free seeds.

FAIR WAGES:
All skilled workers are paid considerably more than the minimum wage for the region in India to ensure that everyone has a good living wage.
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY:
Going beyond regular expectations is part of Pratibha and Pants to Poverty’s committment to suppliers. Below, they outline just a few of the initiatives they are working on.
WOMEN’s EMPOWERMENT:
Women’s empowerment is core to the Pratibha approach with many management positions filled by women and dynamic new programs for women empowerment at all levels of the organization.

EXTENSIVE TRAINING PROGRAM:
As a high level of skill is required for textile manufacturing, training is an essential part of the work conducted by Pratibha’s Human Resources department. The importance of effective training is further bolstered by the massive recruitment that is ongoing at the plant to meet the elevated level of capacity with the five new spinning mills. Training focuses on both work and personal areas including:
-    Technical training to include Spinning, Knitting, Stitching etc..
-    Workers rights training: in relation to working hours, minimum wage, child labor in compliance with ISO 9001.

OTHER STAFF INITIATIVES:
-    A dedicated staff hospital
-    Subsidized food
-    Free accommodation
-    Free transport
-    Blood donation camp

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AND PROMOTION:
The textile industry is renowned for being one of the worst polluting industries and so Pratibha, in order to leave a positive impact on the planet, invests heavily in effective waste management:
-    95% of water is recycled within the plant
-    All waste is controlled within the plant
-    100 trees are planted per quarter (25,000 to date)
-    Participate in global campaigning events such as Earth Hour
-    First textile company in India to register for EARTH HOUR
-    Pratibha is using 3 way strategy of “REDUCE – REUSE-RECYCLE” for increasing sustainability throughout the chains

Check out and shop on Pants to Poverty website for more information.

Photos source: Pants to Poverty

By: Julie Finkel