Green Cotton

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

Photosource: the little seed

What a cute name for this new eco-friendly baby clothing line.

Soleil Moon Frye (you probably remember Punky Brewster, the adorable little girl with bunches and her sneakers with all sorts of canvas) and Paige Goldberg Tolmach, the two co-founders have just opened their new eco-friendly baby boutique in L.A.

The idea came when Soleil and Paige were looking for organic products for their babies and they couldn’t find anything healthy for them and the planet.  So they decide to create their own organic-friendly space.

Everything you can purchase for your baby is eco-friendly, organic and non-toxic products such as: clothing made with 100% Organic cotton, bottles, skin care, baby carriers, handmade woven toys, furniture … shopping bags are also recycled. Even the store environment is non toxic, with no V.O.C (Volatile organic compounds) paint on the walls.

Check out on thelittleseed.com, the selection both on-line and in-store is amazing. Designers are Kate Quinn, Ecoland (made exclusively from the highest quality 100% organically grown cotton, which is GOT (Global Organic Textile) standard certified by Control Union World Group), Salvor Fauna, Under the Nile…For more information on GOTS, visit our latest post on this topic.

Under the Nile, manufacturer of organic toys and apparel, is doing more than just helping kids make a positive association with healthy foods. They are also proud participants of the 13-Villages-Project. The campaign is co-conducted by Under the Nile and its Farm in Egypt. It takes place in 13 rural villages in Sharkeya, Egypt. Through vocational training and infrastructural development, the project is improving the health, skills and overall well being of the village inhabitants.

Soleil and Paige also give us eco-baby tips to protect your chidren’s health: how to eat well by reducing exposure to synthetic pesticides, avoiding plastic bags, beware of radiation…

Happy mum, you can now shop safely and peacefully, the store provides a diaper changing station, a discreet nursing lounge as well as an arts & crafts area.

By: Julie Finkel

Photosource: Swicofil.com

Eco-friendly clothing and organic cotton are all “the buzz” these days, but what is it exactly that can we can expect from a product labeled with “organic cotton” and how do we know we are not being green-washed?

With more and more companies jumping on the organic bandwagon such as Target, Wal-Mart, and Nike, Bed Bath and Beyond and many others, it seems increasingly important for all of us to get on the same page about what we mean by “organic” and enlighten ourselves as consumers as well as producers.

Despite this obvious need for clear requirements and labeling, there is a surprising amount of confusion within industry producers about organic textile labeling and certification. The answer to this confusion that I hear over and over again is: certification. And yet, organic textile certification has been around in various forms for decades across the globe. The problem however has been lack of consistency and collective agreement on standards. Germany had one set, Japan another, USA yet another and so on. However with the textile industry being extremely global in nature, it quickly became apparent that separate standards was a problem.

We here at Green Cotton agree that globally accepted certification is very important in terms of differentiating products from one another, but also because it can be used as vehicle for increasing producer accountability and consumer awareness. After doing some research, we happily discovered that a global standard does exist:  the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) and so would like to share the good news and spread the word.

First launched in late 2006, GOTS certification standards are the product of an International Working Group on Global Organic Textile Standards (GOTS) http://www.global-standard.org/ This group began in 2002 with the common purpose of establishing global standards for textile certification that could then be implemented (and enforced) internationally.

The main bodies represented in the working group include:

• Organic Trade Association (OTA) from the USA
• Japan Organic Cotton Association
• Soil Association (SA) of England from England
  International Association of Natural Textile Industry (IVN), Germany

In 2006, the 4 organizations came to agreement on the global standards and released version one of the GOTS. In 2008, an international working group meeting then agreed upon a licensing system and logo (although as far as I know this logo has not yet been officially released). In May 2008, Version 2 of the GOTS was released. The GOTS is now accepted the leading set of criteria in the field of organic textile processing. With their licensing requirements and logo now complete, I would expect to see this new label on apparel in the next year or so. The logo I believe will help consumers readily identify genuinely certified garments/apparel/textiles much more easily and efficiently (hooray GOTS!).

Certification Process

Important to understand is that the GOTS International Working Group (IWG) is NOT a certifying body. They set the standards, then certification is left to approved certifying bodies. Currently there are a handful of accredited organizations/companies that are approved by IWG. Names and contact details off all approved certifiers are listed on the GOTS website . Besides the technical requirements, a certifier must be approved by the IWG for GOTS certification, must agree to cease using their own standards and must fully adopt the GOTS. As a result, the certifiers Control Union Certifications (formerly Skal International), EcoCert, ETKO and ICEA have dropped their own established standards and introduced to their clients the GOTS certification scheme.

CERTIFICATION STANDARDS

Aim

According to GOTS IWG, the aim of the standards in broad terms is to: Define requirements to ensure organic status of textiles, from harvesting of the raw materials, through environmentally and socially responsible manufacturing up to labeling in order to provide a credible assurance to the end consumer.

Scope and Structure

GOTS covers the production, processing, manufacturing, packaging, labeling, exportation, importation and distribution of all natural fibers. The final products may include, but are not limited to fiber products, yarns, fabrics and clothes. The standards focus on compulsory criteria only.

LABELING

Labeling is important because there are many different stages in textile production (from crop growing to spinning, dying, washing, finishing) and there are many products on the market that only contain a certain percentage of organic cotton. So how are all these different cases handled? Well, here is a quick overview of the GOTS labeling criteria:

Final products that are produced and manufactured in compliance with all compulsory criteria of GOTS are to be labeled “Global Organic Textile Standard”. Further the standards provide for a subdivision into two label-grades.

I. “Organic” or  “Organic ‑ In Conversion”

95% or more of the fibers must be of certified organic (or in conversion) origin. The remaining balance up to 5% may be made of non-organic fibers including defined regenerated and synthetic fibers. Blending (= mixing the same fiber in organic and conventional quality in one product) is not permitted.

II. “Made with X % Organic Materials ” OR “Made with X % Organic ‑ In Conversion Materials”

70% – 95% or more of the fibers must be of certified organic (or in conversion) origin. The remaining balance up to 30% may be made of non-organic fibers. Regenerated and synthetic fibers are limited to 10% (resp. 25% for socks, leggings and sportswear). Again blending is not permitted.

Stay tuned for our next post in this series for a closer look at the actual standards and how they include fair labor components as well. Let us know what you think about this and your questions regarding organic certification.